DAJ: Chains of Destiny
by DE
Summary: An AU. From the ashes of tradgedy, unlikely heroes rise to challenge those who threaten to make the world theirs, but soon are caught up in a situation far more shocking than they could have imagined.[Ch. 30 uploaded]
1. Prologue

_Before you read this you should be warned that it is an "A/U" fic to the extreme. I'm of the opinion it shouldn't be counted as a fanfic, but many of the concepts and characters closely align with their FF7 counterparts(but you'll find new characters and some characters will be totally OOC) ... therefore other than names and locations you may find little to do with what you'd consider Final Fantasy 7. Then again, isn't that what an A/U fic is about? ^_^ This was begun 6 years ago, and what you read here is a culmination of 6 years of editing. Please be kind enough to leave feedback if you've read. Thanks. _

DAJ The beginning

Prologue

"I'm not going." Danny Whise crossed his arms defiantly and shook his head. His calm blue eyes fixed on Tifa as if to try and block her glare. "I've backed down to you about a lot. Both Jim and I have, but this is enough! You're talking like a lunatic!"

Tifa fought back her tears. She had honestly thought Danny would agree to come with her, and Jim, too. But it seemed they were both betraying her after so many years.

"Is that right? You think I'm insane…"

"That's how you sound right now." Danny could tell she was trying not to cry, but he didn't tend to care. He'd been brought up in an uncaring environment, and to some extent, it had influenced his own emotional growth. 

"This is what we wanted!" She yelled back, furious at his uncaring attitude, even though she had in truth come to expect it.

"This is what you wanted." He hadn't raised his voice yet. "I never wanted to leave Kalm … especially not on a stupid adventure like this. We're not kids anymore, Tifa. This is the real world, so why don't you join it?" Coming from his mouth this was weird. He'd heard Tifa's parents say it before, but at only sixteen, he didn't think he'd ever be saying it to his friend.

Tifa cringed at these words; they were scolding her as if they were acid, not just because Danny was imitating her parents, but because he sounded like he actually meant it. "No! You're wrong! We have to go! We have to go!"

Seeing her in hysterics, Danny brought his hand back and slapped her lightly on the face. "Wake up!"

Tifa stumbled at the hit but did not fall. She simply stared at Danny, amazed and perplexed that he had actually struck her. Lack of emotional care was one thing, but abuse was another. He wore the same emotionless mask as always, a look of contempt had entered his eyes. She couldn't hold back the tears anymore as she stood up and slapped him back, much harder. Danny rubbed his face, cursing.

"I'm leaving and I'm going to prove you wrong!" She screamed, turned away from him, and ran out of Kalm's gates, heading towards Midgcar.

"You can't do this, Tifa…" Danny sighed and turned towards Tifa's house, to inform her parents about the events, and hoping they wouldn't be too angry at him for letting her run away. It wasn't his fault … he knew that much. Neither he, nor Jim, Tifa's closest friends, had ever been able to stop her doing anything, and most of the time ended up involved somehow. This time he had finally put his foot down, but, was it the right thing to do? Of course it was … Tifa had dreams of destroying ALIEN … but why bother? They were a small government group, and Tifa's theories of conspiracy, Danny figured, were magnified and induced by the fact she believed they had murdered her father. ALIEN being a military group unfortunately only added to her suspicions. She had been like this ever since Danny could remember … they met when they were twelve, when he and Jim had been searching for the gold that they believed had to be under Kalm somewhere, and had found Tifa digging for bombs she believed ALIEN had put under Kalm. Frightened but curious, Danny and Jim listened to these stories and became entranced with Tifa's ideals and opinions. They ended up following her and wasting many days doing such things as vandalising ALIEN buildings within Kalm, of which there were few, and attacking or pestering the ALIEN executives. They never got in trouble because the police were actually on their side … nobody really trusted ALIEN, but at the same time, nobody went to the lengths Tifa did. She was an extremist, that's for sure. Where did he and Jim lie? Danny decided they leaned more towards the moderate approach than the extreme approach. This is why today he had refused to go with Tifa to Midgcar to fight ALIEN in the capital, where their main headquarters was situated. 

'Perhaps one day I'll regret not going…' Danny thought dismissively, not giving it much attention, he knocked on the door to Tifa's house and tried to think of what he was going to say.          


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Becoming visible on the horizon were an intimidating fleet of ALIEN soldiers heading towards Kalm. Their mission was to seize control of the small town. ALIEN had recently overthrown the government after many years of secret planning, and was planning to dominate the world by force. The ALIEN president was a man named Rufus Alien. Rufus had only been president a year and was nineteen years old, his father, who was the ex-president, had died of a heart failure whilst still in power. 

There were fifty-one recognised cities and towns in the world. Only seven, including the second largest city, Ultima Town, had stood up to ALIEN's demands. The others had crumbled, choosing safety with oppression, rather than individuality and freedom. Danny had memorised the towns that stood against ALIEN. Kalm, Nibelheim, Greenville, Ronine, Ultima Town, Cosmo Canyon and Elento. Most of these towns were strong; Kalm was rather small, as were Greenville. Greenville had sent over members of their defence to help Kalm, helping quite a lot.

Standing at the front of Kalm's defence were Danny Whise and Jim Gildard. Both renowned in the town for their fighting ability, they had been expecting this attack for a long time, and weren't surprised to see it happening, although their fear and dread still was as high as it could be. Danny was Twenty-One, Jim was a year younger. They had been best friends since a very young age, and had achieved many goals together, defending Kalm from this attack seemed impossible, but one they were determined to achieve. Danny pulled out his sword as the ALIEN army got nearer, they were almost there. Jim brought out his sword as well, and glanced nervously at Danny, who returned the nervous glance with a grin. They both ran at ALIEN, the other seventy or so people behind them followed, roaring and screaming cries of war and hate. Seeing the size of the ALIEN army seized both Danny and Jim with fear, although they didn't let it show. It had been predicted ALIEN would send about forty troops to take control of Kalm, but they had underestimated ALIEN's value of Kalm significantly, it seemed, as the army ahead of them contained one-hundred, perhaps more, with many high-tech weapons such as guns,

The battle started quickly, and was over quickly. One by one the Kalm soldiers fell, until just Danny and Jim remained. Outnumbered and surrounded, the backed into the centre of the circle the ALIEN soldiers had made around them and looked at each other with pure fear, realising their deaths were now terribly near, 

"Stay back!" Shouted Danny in desperation, his voice still stern.

The troops sniggered. What appeared to be the captain stepped forward. "You gonna tell us what to do, rebel?" He said with a voice full of bitterness.

Danny didn't reply. The hopelessness of the situation had overwhelmed him as his mind desperately searched for ways out of this mess. 

"What do we do now?" Jim whispered, he couldn't come up with anything either.

"Not much we can do!" Replied Danny, he shook his head and growled. "I guess we should go down…fighting."

Jim nodded. "Yeah, lets go down fighting for Kalm!" The patriotism they showed would have inspired their troops had the troops not been killed and splattered all over Kalm's outside grasslands that were temporarily stained with red.

Both rushed in opposite directions at the surrounding troops, but were soon defeated again, yet not killed. The ALIEN troops were simply amusing themselves with the two final Kalm rebels. Three troops held a weary and coughing Danny in front of the captain, the others kicked Jim on the floor, seeing who would be first to crack two ribs.

"Well, rebel. You put up quite a fight. I must say I'm impressed. However, that will not save you now. You chose your hometown over your Government. Truly patriotic and I assure you I am touched, but, you made a big mistake, and now you die for that mistake. Die in the name of Rufus Alien!"

Danny closed his eyes and waited for the sword to smash into his skull, prematurely ending his confused existence upon the planet. As the seconds passed, nothing at all happened. Silence had replaced the jeers and movements of the ALIEN soldiers. What was going on? Danny slowly and cautiously opened one eye, then the other…then gasped in shock and bewilderment. The once-cocky captain of this army lay on the floor…dead, a large gash across his chest. Looking around with wide-eyes, Danny noted that all the troops had been killed similarly. He and Jim had not. Jim rose to his feet, wearing the same stunned expression as Danny.

"Danny, what the hell is going on?" Jim cried, not expecting an answer from his friend, but needing clarification anyway. 

"I …I don't know! The captain was about to kill me … then … he's dead. I had my eyes closed, so, I didn't see!"

"Me either." Jim replied, shaking his head at the massacre of bodies around them.

"So, what do we tell everyone back at Kalm?" Danny asked, trying to think rationally.

"Not sure, I guess we should go back to Kalm and tell them we won…if you can call this winning." 

Danny agreed. However, upon arrival to Kalm, Danny and Jim were dismayed to find it in flames. Burning buildings crackled, the flames stretched dangerously up to the sky, almost as if heaven was being challenged by hell. Bodies, mercilessly burnt, lay all over the streets, a few twitching, but way beyond help.

"Oh my god, what's happened?" Gasped Jim.

At this point both were beginning to wonder how much more murder, death and suffering they could intake without losing their minds to sorrow and anger. Danny noticed a movement in the house closest to them, it was on fire, but only on top, a man was crawling out, he was blubbering madly, burnt badly but not on fire.

Danny and Jim rushed over, they tried to talk to him but he just repeated three words over and over.

"Sephiroth…not…Alien…" Looking up helplessly, the man managed a haunting grin, and then died. Sighing, Jim clenched his fists and turned to Danny.

"Wasn't Sephiroth that guy that went crazy whilst in training at ALIEN's recruitment centre?" 

Danny thought for a second. "I think so. Yeah … it was big news at the time. He caused a lot of damage, heard he killed a lot of men, too."

Sephiroth was a brilliant veteran, according to ALIEN he was their best soldier, he disappeared from the ranks only 1 month before ALIEN started the attack on the Government and defeated it.

"It must have been ALIEN. That fight must have been a distraction." Figured Danny. "We should have seen it coming." Sadly, Danny closed his eyes. "Everyone's gone…all our friends and family." 

The realisation that Jim's subconscious had been trying to hide from him then hit. His family too were here. He choked in fear, and ran to his house, but couldn't force himself to go inside and see the charred remains of those who he most loved. He wiped the tears from his eyes and stumbled back to Danny.

"What do we do?" Jim said, his voice barely above a whisper and yet still shaking.

"Midgcar. That's the only place left to go,"

Jim looked in the direction of the largest and most powerful city in the world, Midgcar. "The city of dreams, it's not far from here. Let's go." 

Jim's strength in such a tragedy amazed and impressed Danny. He knew Jim was probably ignoring all his feelings and pretending that this wasn't real, but, it was better than Jim breaking down, for the moment he was alright. How long he would be able to hold back his emotion, Danny didn't know. He wasn't about to talk to Jim about it, it was the wrong time. He kept on the subject at hand.

"There'll be tight security, better make sure we bring our weapons, and we can hardly go like this. We'll have to stop in at the convenience store on the way to get different clothes." Danny wiped some of the blood on his uniform, it hadn't dried and he doubted it would for a while yet. The heat of the flames certainly wasn't helping. Turning around, shivering despite the warmth, Danny and Jim left Kalm, for what they thought would be the final time. 


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

They continued to Midgcar in silence. Jim was elated from the latest information, but wasn't showing it, in case the information proved to be wrong, and his family were still dead. Not to mention, there were many rogue monsters in the grasslands in between towns and cities. Although in recent years many had been killed off by ALIEN, there was still a fair amount around. He and Danny had already fought a couple as they got closer to Midgcar, which was a splendour to see. Buildings stretched up to the heavens, a shade of green, grey and black, mixed and glowing, were set around the city. The biggest building was ALIEN headquarters, which seemed never to end as it held its place firmly, looking down with pride at its smaller comrades below. The sun, beaming down brightly, seemed to make the glow and mystique of Midgcar even more intense. As they got closer to the city, the smell of industrialisation became prominent. When they finally reached the gates of Midgcar, two bulky guards stood in their way. Jim wondered how his family had gotten past the guards, whether they had made it past at all … 

One of  the two guards noticed them and beckoned them over.

The guard who beckoned them over placed a suspicious eye on them before speaking in a gruff and distrustful tone that was to be expected in such times. "Have either of you seen the progress of the battle of Kalm? We noticed you came up from that way."

 Danny could see Jim getting angry and elbowed him in the stomach.

"Yeah." Said Danny, sounding very calm considering his hometown had been destroyed, and most of his friends killed. He thanked fate that he didn't care in the slightest about his mother or father. "It's over. The battle's been over for a while. Kalm has been burned to the ground."

"That's right." Said Jim as he gritted his teeth, his anger dampened a bit by Georgio's news, but still burning strongly.

"Good." Said the other guard, "Shall we report it to president Rufus?"

The first guard shook his head. "We'll wait, we have our duties to perform, and besides, he probably already knows." He focused his attention back to Danny and Jim. "I assume you have valid ALIEN Identity Cards? As long as you show us those, we can let you in."

"Oh I'm sorry…" Apologised Danny, he drew his sword silently, marvelling at how well the cloak he was wearing concealed it. "We have none!"

Danny slashed the first guard with perfection, the guard gasped, went to clutch his chest, but then fell to the floor, dead. Jim hit the second guard with his sword whilst he was distracted and confused, also killing him. Alarm bells began ringing from inside Midgcar as Danny and Jim pried the gates open, the camera above the entrance had seen everything, the two rebels hadn't noticed it until this point. They couldn't run back now, so they ran in, gunshots rang out, guards stood at every exit and quickly formed a circle to surround them, in the same manner as the army outside Kalm had done. Danny got a strong feeling of déjà vu and didn't need to think why. The guards glared and held their guns up at the intruders.

"We're in trouble." Mumbled Jim, eyes scanning the scene for exits, but all were clogged up with guards, almost as if something like this had been expected. Déjà vu came over him. 

"I'm aware of that…" Replied Danny quietly.

Both backed up as the guards came closer, guns still pointed directly at them.

""Who are you?" Asked one of the guards and stepped forward, assuming the leadership role.

Danny and Jim didn't answer; they just stared blankly at the ground.

"Tell me!" Demanded the guard and aimed the gun at Danny, ready to fire.

"Kalm survivors." Mumbled Danny, thinking this would be a bad time to die, not that they looked like good bets for surviving anyway, but if they played for time then maybe...

"Survivors? Ah, so Kalm has been destroyed?" A grin was now on the guard's face.

"What do you think, idiot." Jim said, his anger returning with a flourish at the wrong time.

The guard's smile disappeared. "Fire!"

"Shit!" Cried Danny and held his hands up as the guards began to fire, the two warriors then blacked out. They would wake up again, though it wouldn't be for a few hours.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Danny was the first to wake. He slowly opened his eyes, mixed thoughts ranging from 'where am I?' to 'Am I really alive?' circled in his head before he calmed down and began to sense all that was around him. It seemed still, calm, tranquil. There was an atmosphere of love and care that made him smile and peacefully sigh, perhaps because it was the first he had ever encountered. His home life was exactly the opposite, or rather, had been. Danny opened his eyes wide, he felt no pain, he thought if he was alive that millions of bullets would have hammered their way into his body, but that didn't seem to be the case. He felt fine. Danny sat up and looked around. He was laying on a small ledge sticking out of a wall. Looking to the back of the building, he saw rows of brown seats, as it got closer towards the front, and to him, he saw an altar, some flowers, blooming magnificently and beautifully, and a little water fountain toward the side, but no water came from it. The stillness of the foundation was saddening to Danny, because it seemed to blemish the spotless atmosphere of tranquillity. 

"A church?" Said Danny out loud, his voice echoed all around, he heard footsteps running from the back.

A young woman rushed in from a door behind the flowers and stood over Danny, checking him carefully for cuts or bruises.

"You're okay." She smiled and backed away a little.

"Looks that way." Agreed Danny, he stood up, the woman looked to be in her early twenties, with brown hair tied back in a pony tail that went down to her waist, she was slim, her blue eyes fascinated Danny, there was something strange and enchanting about them.

"What happened to you?" The woman interrupted Danny's thoughts abruptly.

Danny thought back and it all came back to him in a flash.

"We'd escaped from Kalm … got past the guards at the gate…but then there were more of them. They surrounded us and I blacked out as they began to fire."

"When I found you, all the guards were dead." Explained the woman, "you and your friend looked to be dead as well, but I checked you anyhow, as there was no blood around you, and sure enough, you were both alive… I dragged you both back here."

"Must have been quite an effort. Where's Jim?"

The woman pointed behind the flowerbed, he few metres away from the door, Danny saw Jim resting on a slab of concrete sticking out of the wall.

"Thank you, for taking care of us." He nodded

"No problem at all. I'm Aeris, what's your name?"

"Danny Whise… from Kalm…" Danny found himself giving this woman information he really shouldn't be giving. For all he knew she could be some kind of spy for ALIEN. But then again … there was something about her… he noticed he was staring at her again and turned to the church exit. 

"Why were the guards firing at you?" She asked, seemingly oblivious.

Danny shrugged. "Well, we're from Kalm, we're rebels… work it out."

"Hey!" Growled Aeris as Danny walked over to Jim. "No need to be rude."

Danny stopped and turned to face Aeris. "Sorry. We're rebelling against ALIEN, if you're smart you'll call the police and get rid of us now." 

Aeris gave a smile and put her hand on Danny's shoulder. "The slums is the last place you'll find any enemies. Especially with what you have in mind. Nobody supports ALIEN around here. Nobody is brave enough to go against them, either."

Jim began waking up.

"We're alive?" He said groggily as he saw Danny. He slowly turned his body around so he was sitting up. He checked himself and the look of confusion deepened on his face. 

"Yeah, we're fine." Danny grinned and turned to Aeris. "Do you think we can find any help in the slums?"

"I doubt it." Aeris replied. "Too many are frightened by the power and ruthlessness of ALIEN. They don't want to die."

"I suppose not everyone has incentives like ours." Danny growled, remembering the devastation of Kalm.

"My family are here, somewhere. In this city, I'm sure of it." Jim told Danny, standing up.

"It's a big city. It would take us a long time to find them. Time we probably don't have."

"Oh!" Cried Aeris, remembering something, "I have something for you both!"

She turned and walked through a small door at the back of the church. A few minutes later she reappeared with the swords Danny and Jim had been carrying. "You might want these."

"Hey, our swords!" Jim took his and checked it, no damage done.

"Time to finish this, then." Danny said, taking his weapon too and putting it inside his cloak.

Jim nodded. "Time to make them pay for their actions… or at least die trying."

"Where are you going?" Asked Aeris, concern evident in her speech. 

"ALIEN headquarters. It'll be tough, getting there, but …we'll damn well try." Danny nodded, trying to sound like a man with resolve. 

"Tough?" A new voice, male, said with a chuckle. "More like impossible." From the same back door Aeris had just gone through, a young man appeared. He had short black hair, with a face that was somewhat confident, if not cocky. He had clothes that resembled combat gear closely. He was shorter than Aeris, barely. Probably a few years younger. 

"Jerad!" Aeris growled, shaking her head. "This is my brother, Jerad. He and I live here at the moment. The nun who took us in when we were children died not too long ago. She asked we stay in the church and keep it looking beautiful." She motioned to the flowers. "This is the only place in Midgcar where the flowers grow."

Just as Danny was about to say something, Jerad's crude and distrustful voice cut in.

"We don't need troublemakers like you here messing things up!"

Danny and Jim glanced at each other, perplexed as to why Jerad was so defensive.

"You'll have to excuse him." Aeris shook her head. "He's been really angry lately."

Jerad folded his arms and glared straight at Danny. The dislike was evident. Danny didn't know what he had done to provoke such a reaction. Perhaps Aeris had told Jerad about what had happened and he had already drawn his own conclusions. In a way, it was understandable that he perhaps wanted to protect his sister from harm. It was then Danny knew perhaps Jerad was right. They should probably leave … they didn't come to Midgcar to bring trouble to innocent people. If ALIEN found them these two may get caught in the crossfire or arrested.

"No, Jerad is right to be suspicious. We'll leave." Danny said, turning to the door.

"No!" Aeris grabbed Danny's arm. "You're going to stay here!"

Danny tried to pull his arm away but she was stronger than she looked. Jerad growled and put his hand on Aeris's shoulder firmly.

"He wants to go … let him leave."

"He doesn't want to go! You're making him leave!"

"Aeris, it's okay. I can understand your brother's reasons for wanting us to go." Danny said.

"As can I." Jim agreed. "We don't want to get you guys hurt. This is our affair, we have to deal with it alone."

Danny was glad Jim was thinking along the same lines as himself and nodded sagely.

"Where are you going to stay, huh?" Aeris replied instantly. "Do you have any money? Any idea where to go?"

"We shall manage." Danny told her with a shrug.

"No!" Aeris shook her head. "You are staying here. We won't chuck you out."

"Aeris!" Jerad's anger was rising.

"Shut up, Jerad! You hate everyone! These two are here to fight against the organisation that are oppressing hundreds of people in our slums and millions all over the world! If anything we should be welcoming them!"

"They're trouble! All I want is some peace!"

"Yeah, well I want revenge. I remember mum, unlike you."

Jerad went silent. Danny and Jim cast another glance at each other. Jim mouthed the word 'mum?' and Danny simply shrugged. It seemed Aeris had won whatever the battle was, because Jerad had folded his arms and turned his back to her.

"That settles it then. You're staying." 

"Do you have spare rooms?" Jim asked.

"Sleep on the seats." Jerad said in a low voice, resigned to the fact they were staying.

"The seats aren't comfortable… besides, if ALIEN guards came in at night they might get jumped. No, you can both sleep in my room." Aeris nodded.

"What?" Danny raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure? We don't want to be an inconvenience."

"Of course I'm sure. Wouldn't want either of you stuck in a room with Jerad. You guys don't seem like perverts either." She giggled. 

"Of course we aren't. But… if we left…"

"If you left you'd die. And I'm not letting that happen." She walked over to the church doors and slammed them shut. "Besides, it's night time. A lot of strange people come out at night."

"Like us." Jim whispered, giving his first smile. Danny smiled back and stretched. There wasn't much they could do if they were forced to stay. Besides, the actually didn't know where they were, where they were going, who they were up against … they probably couldn't be traced back to this place, so for now, it seemed staying here was for the best. Jerad had disappeared.

"Sorry about upsetting your brother." Said Danny.

"Don't worry about him." She replied, walking over and tending to the flowers humming to herself. After a few minutes she stood up and turned to them.

"I'll go find you both a mattress. There's an old one around here." She smiled at them and exited through the door she'd appeared from not too long before. Danny and Jim waited a few moments before speaking.

"She's nice." Jim said, starting the conversation casually, knowing they had much bigger things to discuss.

"Yeah. We were lucky she found us." He turned to look at Jim. "Do you think we should stay here? We could leave right now…"

"Nah." Jim shook his head. "As she said, we don't know where we are or anything like that. Surely it can't hurt to stay for a day or two. ALIEN won't find us that quickly." 

Danny slowly nodded and glanced over to the flowers. They were beautiful, there was a hole in the church floor where they grew, and it was quite a large patch too. It stuck out against the dreary stone walls and certainly brightened up the atmosphere inside the holy structure. Danny assumed that this church wasn't in use anymore, as the floors and seats were extremely dusty. Religion had died a quiet death as the age of technology excelled. 

"Can't wait to get back on the road to revenge." Danny gave a slight grin. The fires of hatred within were still burning strongly, his heart felt like it had been set ablaze every time he remembered his hometown and the devastation that had been wreaked upon it. 

"Me either." Jim's eyes told Danny he had an identical feeling to his own. He'd never considered himself patriotic, but now, he realised he was. Perhaps he hadn't understood what the word meant before… before he'd thought of men marching in uniforms, fighting for a city or town that was only using them for material gain. Now, as he reflected sadly, he saw it in a different light. Your town, the ones you love and who love you… they are the fuel that ignites your passion to fight and survive. That's patriotism, defending the ones you love and defending the town or city you love… it didn't matter what the city thought of you, it was what you thought of the city. Suddenly, both men no longer felt like talking, and the next few minutes passed in silence before Aeris returned. 

"Okay guys, I found the mattress… it's getting kinda late, so I'm going to get to bed. I'll leave my door unlocked for you, but be sure to lock it when you come up. We've had people come into the church before at night… Jerad's dealt with them, but, if he's asleep and they try my room first…" 

Danny nodded. "Got it. Where is your room?"

She pointed to the door. "Through that door is a set of stairs, go up the stairs, and my room is the second door on the left. Jerad's is the first, the door on the right is a cupboard."

"Alright." Danny nodded to her. "You don't have anything to worry about, by the way, we're perfectly normal guys, really."

"I wouldn't have defended you if I'd suspected you were crazy." She giggled and cleared up the area around the flowers, being careful not to drop anything on them.

"We really appreciate it. It's very kind of you." Jim added.

"Well…" She looked over at them. "At least this way I can feel like I'm somehow contributing to the rebellion." After picking up a few more items, she bid them goodnight and went to bed.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N: I've had a few inquiries about what the terms "AU" and "OOC" mean, so to clear it up before the story continues any further… "AU" means Alternate Universe. It signifies a story where things are running differently to the universe you'd come to expect. "OOC" means Out of Character. Characters may act differently to how you'd expect. Hope that clears things up ^_^ 

---

"Let's go clubbing." Jim said jokingly.

"Clubbing? I don't think so." Danny shook his head, chuckling. "But I do think we should go out and check our bearings."

They ended up outside, wandering around in what was almost pitch blackness. There was a very dim light in the distance to their right, so they wandered over to that, eventually seeing an overhead streetlight and a small dusty path, with large walls to both sides and trashcans next to the walls. As they walked onwards they eventually ended up in what seemed like a miniature town. There were houses all around them, in a circle, with a large machine right in front of them which whirred soothingly. The machine was huge, ten times the size of them. It was mostly a large metallic box, with a few tubes branching out of it and into the ground, leeching whatever was under there. Danny and Jim could both vaguely remember learning at school that these machines powered all the sub-sections of Midgcar, and every sector had three or four. Their memories of how the machines did this were scratchy, but they remembered the machines took something out of the Earth that was then converted into power and then sent out to all the homes that were connected to the machine via the underground. 

"First time I've seen one of these properly." Jim mused, eyeing the machine curiously.

"Me too." Danny regarded it with less curiosity; he moved his focus to the houses and noticed a sign hanging next to the machine. It said 'Sector 5 slums'. Jim noticed it too. 

"Too bad we don't know anything about Midgcar, that sign might actually be useful to us." Danny shook his head despondently. He'd seen maps of Midgcar at school, but again didn't remember anything in great detail. All he knew was that there were two levels, the ground level, which were called "the slums", and the top level, which was named "the top plate". Danny remembered being told that the slums were more polluted and dirty than the top plate, and that the top plate was regarded as a place for the high-class and rich people to live. Whereas the slums were where everyone else resided. ALIEN HQ would undoubtedly be on the top plate.

"How do you think we can get up to the top plate?" He asked Jim.

Jim shrugged. "I dunno. Didn't they say that there were trains or something that took people up to the top plate?"

"Something like that." Danny saw something move out of the corner of his eye and turned to see two children, both boys, one clearly older than the other, regarding them curiously.

"Uh, hi." He said a little uncomfortably.

"What you doing here?" The older boy asked, glaring at Danny and them at Jim with extreme distrust.

"We just want to know the best way to get to the top plate." Danny responded, hoping perhaps these children could give them the answer.

"You aren't from around here, huh?" The boy said slowly.

Danny shook his head. "No, just arrived."

The boys looked at each other, then back at Danny and Jim. "Some ALIEN guards were found killed earlier." The older boy told them, suspicion in his voice.

"Whereabouts?" Danny asked, trying to sound neutral.

"Up where you came from." The younger boy said, sounding even more suspicious than his friend.

"That's terrible." Danny remained impartial, not sure whether he should sound sympathetic or glad. Based on what Aeris had said, the boys probably disliked ALIEN anyway, but if they didn't, then a victorious tone may bring all kinds of trouble, not to mention they probably wouldn't get their information. The older boy smiled, seemingly knowing what Danny was thinking. He pointed to his left, where another small path led off into the darkness. "You go down that path, turn right… go past some big doors, that's the entrance to sector 7, but you don't wanna go there, 'cause there ain't nothing there… you just walk past it, and then you'll find sector 6, where wall market is."

"Wall market?"

"It's a huge big market with loadsa shops and people!" The younger boy interrupted, his face suddenly bright and enthusiastic.

"Shut up! I'm talking to them!" The older boy growled, and continued. "The market is a place where there are shops and stuff like that… it's quite a fun place, but our parents won't let us go on our own… they say there's lotsa bad people there too."

"Oh, I see…" Danny nodded.

"Anyway, you just go into Wall Market, and you'll see a really big building in front of you. You gotta head towards it, then you'll see this gap in a wall, and if you go through the gap you'll find a huge wall! It's really cool! There's this really long wire that goes up and up, and momma said it goes up to the top plate. You just gotta climb that 'till you get to the top."

"Isn't there an easier way?" Jim said, his first comment in the conversation.

The older boy smiled a little. "Well, if you go in sector 7 there's a train station… but ALIEN guards are everywhere… and you need ID… I don't think you guys have them."

These kids were smart. Danny smiled back at them. "Thanks. You've really helped us out. You shouldn't be out here so late, though. Strange people come out at night."

"Like you guys?" The older boy commented, and both boys giggled. Danny and Jim laughed also, remembering Jim's comment from earlier.

"No, we're just normal guys… why are you out at this time?" Danny knew it was really none of his business, but he couldn't understand why the boys were out here at this time of night, when clearly many people feared the outside once it got dark.

"Momma sent us to find papa…" The younger boy said quietly, his face was now more sullen than before.

"Is he lost?" Jim asked.

"No, we know where he is." The older boy replied, confusing both Danny and Jim.

"Then why did your mother send you to find him?" Danny said.

"'Cause she wants papa to come home now." The younger boy turned towards a small building, Danny and Jim too glanced over there and saw it was a small bar, there was music and loud banter coming from inside. 

"Is he in there?" Danny said slowly.

"Yeah… momma is ill, so she can't come get papa … if papa stays out too late, he sometimes goes to sleep in the street, and momma said he might get hurt by bad people." The older boy was beginning to usher his sibling towards the bar. Danny thought of going with them, but decided it was none of his business and turned away from them to face Jim. 

"Well, at least now we know where to go."

"Let's get going." Jim nodded towards the path that led to Wall Market. 

"Now?" Danny cocked his head slightly, bemused. He didn't want to leave right now, it was late, and Aeris would be expecting them back.

"Yes, now." Jim looked back at Danny with equal bemusement. He was eager to move on.

"I thought we were going to stay with Aeris and Jerad for a couple of days…"

"Well, now we can save them the burden."

"Aeris already said it's no trouble and she wants to help us. She could tell us some stuff that's important. Plus, even when we climb up to the top plate, we still have to find ALIEN HQ … it could take us a while without any knowledge of the top plate. I think we should go back."

"I disagree… I'm not tired anyway, after being out of it for most of the day anyway! We should press on. At night there'll be less security and we'll have better camouflage."

"As will anybody who tries to attack us!"

"Nobody can defeat us, come on… not thugs, anyway."

"We can't take any chances. Let's go back…" With that, Danny briskly turned to the path they'd come down and began walking back to the church. 

"Danny! Danny, come on! You can't be serious! Since when have you cared about danger?" Jim yelled, exasperated. This was quite unlike Danny, he was sure that Danny would have agreed to press on, but instead he wanted to go back. "Dammit… what's going on, Danny?" Jim caught up with him and shook his head.

"Nothing. We have to be smart about this, Jim. We're in a city we know very little about, we're bound to be on ALIEN's hit list now that they think we killed a load of guards, and it's night. We're better off waiting until morning, maybe staying with Aeris a day or two longer, then continuing from there." 

"Sure doesn't sound like you…" Jim shrugged. "But I won't argue. Just hope you know what you're doing."

They walked the rest of the way in silence, a slightly uncomfortable air between them over the disagreement. They reached the church and slipped in as quietly as possible.

"How long have we been out, you reckon?" Jim whispered.

"Half an hour or so, maybe…" Danny replied just as quietly. "Might as well go and get some rest now." They walked over to the door at the back of the church and opened it, revealing the flight of stairs Aeris has told them about. They crept up the stairs and onto the landing. The corridor was dark, the rebels waited until their eyes had adjusted before moving any further. Danny could see the door that led to Aeris's room and began to head towards it, but as he moved forward he saw a shadow flicker, and in front of him a dark figure emerged on the landing. Thinking someone had got into the church whilst they'd been out, Danny drew his sword. Seeing Danny do this, Jim did the same, straining his eyes to make out what was in front of him, the figure's outline slowly became visible to him too. 

"Who are you?" Danny barked, his voice strong. The figure didn't move. 

"Get out of this church!" Jim growled, assuming too that this was an intruder.

The figure was then upon them, surprisingly quickly. It knocked Danny into the wall with such a force that Danny dropped his sword and gasped, grunting in pain. Before Jim could do anything the figure had kicked him hard in the stomach and grabbed his sword from him as Jim writhed on the floor in agony. The figure put the sword to Danny's throat. Danny's eyes were wide and fearful… he couldn't make out the face of his assailant, even though he was now at his throat. The blade pressed against his neck… Danny knew one more push would seal his fate, but to his surprise, the sword then was pulled away and dropped to the floor.

"That was pathetic." The mocking tone was undoubtedly the voice of only one person: Jerad.

Danny glared in shock for a few moments before growling. "Jerad! What the hell did you do that for?"

Jim had by now regained vertical status, though he was still clutching his stomach. "Jerad? What's the matter with you!"

"I was merely making sure you weren't intruders. You didn't have the politeness to tell either myself or my sister you were leaving the church, therefore I thought you may be intruders."

"Bullshit!" Danny put his sword back into his cloak. "You knew damn well it was us! You heard our voices, dammit!"

"Could have been trickery." Danny thought he saw a smile flicker across Jerad's face, which was mostly hidden by darkness.

"Bastard…" Danny shook his head and shoved past Jerad, going towards Aeris's room. Jim also pushed Jerad out of the way and followed.

"You guys had better not try anything with my sister… or I'll take you out for real." Jerad said, his voice deadly serious.

"Go screw yourself." Danny replied angrily.

"Unlike you, we're decent guys." Jim added with a snort. The shadowy figure that was Jerad had gone, however.

Danny considered knocking on the door, but remembered Aeris saying she'd leave it unlocked, and slowly pushed it open. This room was a lot brighter than the corridor. Danny walked in, followed by Jim, and noted the window above Aeris's bed was the source of the light. The moon and seemingly come out from behind the clouds now, typically when they no longer needed it. The glow slanted down the bed, and onto the floor. The mattress she had gotten them was quite a large size, it had a similar size bed sheet and a couple of pillows laying on it. It looked to be blue, but the moonlight made much of the room seem blue. Aeris seemed to be asleep, she was breathing slowly and peacefully, her face looked very tranquil. She could be acting, but Danny didn't see the point in that. Her bed was as large as the mattress, which could easily fit a couple of people on it. 

"With that much space, it's a shame she didn't invite us to join her." Jim grinned at Danny mischievously, still with one hand on his stomach. Danny shook his head.

"Don't be perverted." He moved over to the mattress and laid on it, finding it quite comfortable. 

"I was kidding." Jim rolled his eyes and laid down next to Danny. "Well, I have to say I didn't imagine I'd be sharing a bed with you when we started out."

"I'd hope not." Danny said with a quiet laugh and turned to the window, he could now see the moon quite clearly, it was full and shining brilliantly.

"Have a good sleep. No funny stuff either." Jim laughed and rested his head on his pillow, closing his eyes and yawning.

"I'll try to resist you." Danny replied in jest and also put his head down onto the pillow, still watching the moon vacantly, before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Man, I'm only noticing after breaking the story down how much ALIEN really is just the Shinra with a different name, and how unoriginal most of the start to this is. Character-wise, anyhow. It gets much more original later on, thankfully, but bear with the similarities at this point, they do decrease later on. __Stratadrake__, you were technically not the first to review this story, as it had been up on fictionpress and I had 2 reviews there. Both made AIM contact with me and have given me feedback there(their choice, I'm not on AIM all that often…), Nonetheless I appreciate your reviews somewhat more. Many thanks. To clear up your questions, yeah, Midgar becomes Midgcar, generally because I used to think that is how it was spelt in the game, since then I've noticed otherwise but I kind of prefer Midgcar… *shrugs*. I noticed those paragraphs ending with commas…purely a mistake on my part. I don't believe it happens too often from here onwards. _

---

Danny Whise had never been good at getting up in the mornings. In fact, it was probably his least favourite part of the day. He slowly opened his eyes, squinting as the sunlight beamed proudly through Aeris's window right into his face. He grunted and turned his body over. Jim too was still asleep. Danny mumbled and closed his eyes, only to feel a hand on his shoulder.

"You're awake!" It was Aeris.

"Yeah… not for long…" Danny mumbled with a yawn and kept his eyes shut.

"Hey, now, come on. It's already ten past eight, you know. You should be up by now. Breakfast will be ready in…" Before Aeris could finish her sentence Danny had jumped up. If there was one thing that would get him up in the mornings, it was the mention of food. His eyes were suddenly wide, with a grin on his face.

"Breakfast? What's on the menu?"

Aeris laughed a little, stepping back. "You're just like Jerad. I'm cooking some bacon and eggs, which I hope suits your taste."

Danny nodded quickly, grinning even more than before. "Sounds great!" He sniffed the air and detected the odour of the nearly-cooked bacon. "Smells delicious…"

Aeris made her way to her door, turning back. "You wash up and be down in twenty minutes, okay? It'll all be ready."

"You bet!" Danny nodded, his smile as wide as it could be. Aeris giggled and left the room. Danny grabbed one side of the mattress and tossed it over, sending Jim face first onto the floor.

"Agh!" Jim cried, shocked by the sudden movement and rude awakening from his sleep.

"Come on, man! We have twenty minutes before breakfast!" Danny told him excitedly.

Jim got onto his hands and knees, pushing the mattress off him. "There are better ways to wake me up, you know!" He yelled, rubbing his head. "Dumping me on the floor is just plain stupid!"

"Yet, so effective." Danny gave a smile and scanned the room. There was a door next to Aeris's bed. He made his way over to the door and pushed it open, revealing a small bathroom, which consisted of a shower and sink. 

"I shall be out in a few minutes." Danny entered the bathroom, closing the door and locking it.

"Bastard…" Jim grumbled, brushing himself off and sighing. He too hated waking up in the morning… especially like that. He shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun, turning to a small table in the corner of the room. Closer observation revealed a small notepad, a vase with a few prime-condition roses in and an old picture in a frame. The picture had a young woman, similar looking to Aeris, holding a baby in her arms and smiling as a young girl held onto her leg, grinning shyly at the camera. Jim assumed that since Aeris seemingly had no children, this was a picture of the mother she had briefly mentioned earlier. The photo looked rather old, and it seemed to fit that the younger girl would be Aeris and the baby Jerad, as Aeris looked older than Jerad. The shower had started, lost in his thoughts Jim had consciously not noticed. He shook his head and gave a slight chuckle, food could certainly get Danny up in the morning. Danny's lust for food was unnatural and had been what he had spent most of his wages on at home. That and the rent in the house they had shared. It was a small house but it was all they really needed. Jim actually quite liked his room, it was smaller than Danny's but he felt quite at home there. Danny had taken to the house straight away, just glad to be away from the hell he had left behind. Jim glanced at the notepad, it contain a few scribbled notes… food items, seemingly a shopping list. Jim had a slight urge to look further through the notepad but decided it would be improper to go through Aeris's personal items. He sat down on the mattress and stared off, lost in his thoughts until he heard the bathroom door open. Danny came out, drying his hair with a towel.

"Your turn. Hurry up, I'm not going to wait up." He said.

"Yeah, yeah." Jim replied, still sounding a little annoyed and walking into the bathroom. 

 "He sure is grumpy this morning." Danny shrugged and felt his mouth begin to water as the smell of the food reached his noise once more. He had a huge urge to go downstairs, but he felt being closer to the food, which wasn't ready yet, would be worse. He checked around the room. The walls were a cream colour, which brightened up the room even more as the sun shone onto them. The room was almost an extension of the church's atmosphere, loving and kind, but with a sense of excitement and optimism that the walls of the church just refused to portray. He glanced over at a small desk in the corner. It was lacking a chair to sit on, which struck Danny as a little odd. He wandered over and checked the surface, there was a notepad with a few notes on it, a vase with some finely-conditioned roses. There was also a framed picture, three people, a mother and two children, one a baby. Danny shrugged and made his way back over to the mattress, sitting down and fidgeting, desperately wanting something to nourish himself with, but knowing he had to wait at least another few minutes. Jim exited the bathroom, drying his hair and yawning. 

"Damn, it's early. Twenty past eight! Why the hell are we up so early? I could have done with a few more hours, since we were out so damn long last night."

"Calm down there, Jimbo. Listen, it's better that we're up earlier. Gives us a chance to eat earlier, and other than that we can get more information out of Aeris and if anything comes up…" Danny's sentence was abruptly cut off by a scream from downstairs, it was Aeris.

"Let's go." Danny drew his sword, Jim dropped the towel, grabbed his sword from the side of the mattress and followed Danny as he rushed out of the room and down the stairs. As they reached the bottom of the stairs they saw the immediate problem. Jerad was standing in front of Aeris, protecting her from three men and a woman with machine guns aimed directly at Jerad. 

"Leave this place!" Jerad yelled. "It's a holy sanctuary! You can't use violence here!"

The blue-suited man in front, with long black hair, chuckled. "Oh please. Holy sanctuary? Nobody cares about that anymore. Face it, kid, religion ran its course and is dead. Now, you shall tell me what I need to know."

"Go to hell!" Aeris growled, peering out from behind Jerad's shoulder, shaking a little. 

"Now, now." The black-haired man aimed his gun up at Jerad. "That kind of talk won't get us anywhere." 

"We have nothing to say to your kind…" Jerad spat at the feet of the black-haired man.

"Our kind? Oh, but you don't even know us. My name is Tseng… and my friends behind me make up what ALIEN have named the Turks."

"I'm Reno, but Aeris, you already knew that." The man with long, red-ish hair tied back in a ponytail said nonchalantly. 

Aeris scowled, but remained silent. 

"I wasn't aware the two of you had a history." Tseng looked back at Reno briefly.

"It isn't much of a history. She's very uptight." Reno smiled at Aeris, waving.

"Still bitter about that, are we?" Aeris shook her head. "I told you, I didn't realise how much of a jerk you were at the start, but it became painfully obvious pretty soon afterwards!"

"I hate to interrupt, Aeris! But if this guy is your ex-boyfriend can you please tell him to drop the gun!" Jerad growled, looking at Aeris out of the corner of his eyes, not daring to completely turn away from the Turks, even for a second. 

"Reno!" Aeris stepped out from behind Jerad slowly, glaring at Reno. "Get rid of those guns right now!"

"Sorry." Reno shrugged, keeping his gun aimed. "Tseng gives the orders around here."

Jim turned to Danny, looking confused. "After what Jerad did last night… why doesn't he just attack them?"

"He must be afraid they'll hurt Aeris." Danny replied quietly.

Tseng nodded, grinning confidently. "I'm the boss. If you want us to drop the guns, you have to ask me. But, don't waste your breath, because I'd refuse anyway." Tseng aimed his gun at one of the church windows and began firing. The stained glass immediately shattered, the sunlight streamed in through the now open window and gleamed onto the flowers, making them stand out even more than before, their beauty seemed to radiate further. 

"No! Stop it!" Aeris cried, shocked.

"You can't do this! What do you want?" Jerad sounded quite desperate as well. The church they had both worked so hard to keep safe and unharmed was suddenly being destroyed before their eyes.

"First, to finish our introduction. Please, continue." Tseng waved his hand at the three Turks behind him.

"My name is Rude." A bald headed man with black sunglasses on said, a gruff tone to his voice. "Third member of the Turks."

"And I am Elena, the newest member of the Turks." The woman had blond hair down to her shoulders, with the same sunglasses as Rude across her eyes. 

"Nice." Tseng nodded. "Now, are there any more people who need to be introduced?"

"Why would there be? You know we live here alone, Reno, tell him!" Aeris said hurriedly.

"Hm, well, the nights I spent here do testify that." Reno nodded.

"Nights?" Jerad said, an undertone of anger in his voice.

"Just shut up, Reno! That's none of their business!" Aeris gulped, not looking at Jerad.

"Nights?" Jerad repeated, the anger surfacing. 

"Jerad! We can talk about this after… they leave!" 

"Nights! Why didn't I know about this?" Jerad had now turned his head to Aeris, seemingly forgetting his previous anxieties towards the Turks. 

Tseng fired another shot, right past Jerad's head. The bullet ricocheted into the wall outside the entrance to the stairs.

"Gah!" Danny stepped further back into the shadows. "That was a bit too close…" 

"Should we go out and confront those guys? It isn't fair that Aeris and Jerad get hassled like this because of us." Jim whispered, peering back round the corner of the entrance. 

"We don't know what the Turks want from them yet, they haven't said they're here for us. Let's just keep quiet until we know for sure, then we'll make ourselves known…" Danny replied just as quietly, also peering out into the church. Jerad had stopped dead, staring at Tseng. Aeris now looked extremely frightened, she had begun shaking again. 

"Reno's nights here were not any time recently, and that makes the whole argument irrelevant." A smile played on Tseng's face as he aimed the gun firmly at Jerad's head. "Therefore, let me ask again, for the final time, is there anyone else who needs to be introduced?"

"We live here alone." Jerad said, once again stepping casually in front of Aeris. "I don't know what you're expecting to find here, but you'll be disappointed." 

The Turks exchanged glances, no expressions other than condescending grins were on their faces. A sense of superiority had already been established and the Turks were getting into their roles easily. Tseng hummed for a few seconds, considering Jerad's words.

"Well, we know two terrorists, or rebels, whichever label you think suits better, are on the loose within this sector or the next, and we have reason to believe they are here. A large structure like this and such… comforting people would certainly be rather inviting to them. I assume you won't mind if we send a few of our men to search?" Tseng posed the question, expecting only one answer.

"Okay…" Jerad nodded slowly. Aeris looked up at him quickly, trying not to show her shock. 

"Rude, call them in." Tseng lowered his gun, but Reno and Elena kept theirs pointed. Rude briefly exited the building via the double doors and returned swiftly with a half a dozen guards, all dressed in a hooded uniform, so that the faces of these soldiers were unidentifiable. They held similar guns to the Turks, but they were smaller and looked somewhat simpler. 

"Jim! Shit! Look!" Danny whispered urgently.

"I know… six guards… damn…" 

"No!" Danny shook his head. "The bacon is burning! Oh man! I hate it burnt…" 

Jim sighed. "The bacon burning is the least of our worries right now. Should we introduce ourselves to these Turks?"

"No… they'll send those six guards round here. I have an idea." Danny tugged Jim's arm. "Come on." They retreated back up the stairs silently, careful not to make any noise.

"You have no right…" Aeris sighed, turning her head down. The guards ran past her, straight towards the stairs. They slowly approached the entrance, peering round and aiming their guns into the darkness. After a few seconds they shuffled into the entrance and ran up the stairs in search of the rebels.

"No right…" Aeris repeated sadly, glancing with a sigh at the shattered window. Little bits of the glass had fallen into the still fountain beneath the window, adding a sinister touch to the object which before had been merely gloomy. Aeris turned to look at Reno, he was smiling back at her. He gave a wink, but kept his gun pointed. Her stomach churned and she fought back the tears, fearing for the lives of the rebels, and wondering how it could get any worse.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Touch me now

_Used to be afraid to let it show, bow down(bow down)_

_A king in my own mind_

_Everything's in place, so much better from today…_

_A king in my own mind._

---

It was raining again. Dreary, the days had been. For so long now, the world seemed to be reflecting his own mind. A desolate sky shed many tears upon him, as a sign of sympathy, perhaps. He was unaware of the misery inside because his long worn mask of insanity had now melded into his face and slowly soaked into his mind, confusing and yet at the same time liberating his consciousness. The new sense of responsibility within had given him a cause, finally. After so many years of hiding, mourning and waiting, he was ready. The rain got worse. Sephiroth knew he would have to land somewhere in Midgcar. He hovered over the industrial city, the largest in the world, and shook his head. Such awful memories haunted this place, and he knew he was the cause of a few. Midgcar should be the first to go, he decided. The people and the city, all traces should be transformed or eradicated. Landing on the outskirts, Sephiroth reached a small gate. At the entrance were two guards, dressed in typical ALIEN uniform and chatting to each other, unaware of his landing or his approach. The city loomed over him, it's metallic eyes seemingly watching in anticipation… Sephiroth nearly viewed himself as a parasite, one which Midgcar seemingly didn't want to have back. Maybe it had thought Sephiroth was gone for good. Maybe. The guards had noticed him now. They turned to him and raised their weapons. Both Guard's visions were blurry due to the rain that fell from above, but they could make out a tall man with long silver hair and a black suit of armour covered mostly by a trench coat heading directly towards them. 

"Halt! Who are you?" One of the Guards called out. There was no response, the figure simply continued gliding towards them. They looked at each other anxiously. The second Guard took an unsure step forward.

"We command you to stop, in the name of Rufus Alien!"

The figure did then stop. His silver hair fell in front of his eyes as he dropped his head slightly and began chuckling. He threw his head back and arched his arms out towards the sky. A sudden rumble of thunder made both Guards stumble backwards, slightly afraid of this unusual stranger. Sephiroth continued chuckling and slowly pulled out a long sword. He turned his eyes up to the first guard and silently dared him to attack. The guard instead continued backwards until he hit his back firmly against the gate. He jumped and swivelled round, at which point Sephiroth leapt forward and drove his sword through the Guard's armour and deep into his flesh. The guard barely managed a squeal before his eyes rolled back into his head. The second guard, meanwhile, stood rooted to the spot, shaking in shock and fear of what he had just seen. A sudden rush of panic took over his body. Not wanting to die, he aimed his gun and began wildly firing at Sephiroth. The bullets flew off in all directions, but none seemed to hit Sephiroth. The guard was unaware of this, and kept firing until he was out of ammunition. He stared in bewilderment and fear at the silver-haired murderer, unable to comprehend how he had managed to come out of the attack unscathed. Sephiroth turned to the guard, locking eyes with him. The guard felt his whole body freeze up. He could not have moved even if he had wanted to. In a matter of seconds Sephiroth had thrown the dead guard off his sword and swung it with expert precision at the frozen guard's head, slicing it clean off. The body fell to the ground, headless and still. Turning to the entrance, Sephiroth wiped a few marks off of his sword and sheathed it once more. He stepped next to the gate and pried his fingers into the cracks where the electronic doors would normally slide open once the correct verification was given. Sephiroth's verification came through forcing the doors to grind open, with a high-pitched screeching sound. When the were wide enough, he entered Midgcar. Alarm bells began wailing. 

"Camera." Sephiroth decided it must have been hidden, as he certainly didn't spot it. Within seconds he was back into the air. He landed on the rooftop of a small building and jumped down into an alley, to begin his journey, the first objective being to find his lost son…

---

The six guards sent by the Turks slowly crept up the stairs of the church, straining their ears for any sound which may betray another being within their grasp, but all around them was nothing but silence and the sound of their own breathing. They reached the top of the stairs and checked around, there was no sign of anybody. There were three doors on the narrow landing, two on the right hand side and one on the left hand side, right at the end. 

"Alright." The team leader turned to the five troops behind him. "Smith, you and Blitz check out the first one on the right. Uhmir and Beane, you guys take a look in the second room on the right. Gates and I will check out that room on the left. Be careful." His soldiers nodded and headed off to their respective rooms. Gates lined up next to his captain as they walked towards their room.

"Do you think there's anyone here?" he asked.

"Perhaps… but probably not." The captain replied as they reached the door. He put his hand on the knob and turned to Gates. "Be prepared to attack."

"Yes, sir." Gates nodded, aiming his gun at the door. 

"Okay." The captain took a deep breath and turned the knob, slowly opening the door. It creaked a little as it opened. Gates scanned the room, ready to pull the trigger at any movement from within. The captain turned to Gates, who nodded the affirmative. The captain entered the room, and the last act of his life came as he turned his head to the right, and briefly saw a flashing blade on a collision course for his skull. Before Gates knew what had happened he had been stabbed in the heart by a man with a sword. Jim pulled the blade out and swiped at the head, slicing the top half of the skull off. There had been no noise other than the brief choking of Gates before his skull was cut in two halves. The captain lay on the floor, a large bleeding scar running from his forehead to the base of his noise, where Danny's sword had made its mark. The two rebels slowly ran to the door opposite Aeris's room. It opened at that moment and Uhmir let out a yell as he came upon the two rebels, he had no more time to do anything else, though, as Danny had taken a swipe at Uhmir's throat and let a fountain of blood exploded from within. Uhmir fell to the floor as Beane cried out in shock, before he could retaliate the two rebels were upon him. He defended himself for a few seconds, but Jim got round the back of him and sliced his sword into Beane's lower back. The soldier let out a muffled screech before collapsing in a mixture of his and Uhmir's blood. By this time Smith and Blitz and come out onto the landing. Danny and Jim were now face to face with the two soldiers. The guards looked over their fallen comrades briefly.

"Shit! Captain!" Blitz growled, aiming his gun at Danny.

"Bastards!" Smith too aimed his gun and they began firing. Danny leapt onto the wall and leapt off it straight into Smith, their bodies went rolling along the floor. Smith lost grip of his weapon. Jim blocked Blitz's bullets with his sword and quickly dug a small explosive out of his pocket, throwing it at Blitz. It exploded in his face. The soldier fell back, dropping his gun. From there his fate was sealed. Jim dealt Blitz his death quickly and ran over to where Danny and Smith were fighting. Danny had Smith pinned down but had no way to get his weapon. Jim stood over Smith's head, looking down.

"Wait!" Smith cried, but it was too late. Jim aimed the tip of the sword at Smith's head and plunged it into his skull, ending the final guard's life. Jim pulled out his sword and turned back.

"Those Turks will be coming soon. Bet they're more experienced than these guys."

"Yeah. We should leave now, we've caused Aeris and Jerad enough trouble." Danny ran into Aeris's bedroom, jumping over the bodies of the soldiers that had tried to kill him. Jim followed, wrinkling his nose as the smell of death came into the air. Danny stood on Aeris's bed and shoved his hand through her window. The fragile glass broke, and shards of it fell onto her bed. 

"We'll have to say sorry, some time." Danny said, shrugging before breaking the rest of the glass and leaping out of the window. Jim climbed onto the bed and looked down, it was quite a drop. Danny was on the floor, holding his ankle. 

"You okay?" Jim yelled down.

"Yeah, just come on already!" Danny got up, hobbling. 

Jim gulped and took a deep breath. "Here we go…" He took one last look at Aeris's now bloody bedroom and then jumped right out the window. 

---

The gunfire and yelling were muffled from where Aeris, Jerad and the Turks were, but it told the Turks what they needed to know. That the rebels were indeed here. They were confident that six guards would be able to deal with the maximum of two rebels. They waited. Aeris bowed her head, trying not to shake. Jerad looked back briefly, wondering what the Turks would do now that they knew they'd lied. He couldn't let them kill Aeris, even if he had to sacrifice his own life to save hers. He'd claim all responsibility, say that she had known nothing about it and that he was completely to blame. Whether they'd believe him or not was another thing entirely. Jerad hoped Aeris's past relations with Reno may possibly smooth things over a little, even though he was still furious about not being informed about the relationship. How had he missed it? The gunfire had stopped. There was now silence once more.

The Turks turned to each other, curious expressions on their faces.

"Surely those guys weren't…" Elena started.

"We'll find out soon enough." Tseng replied. They didn't have to wait long, for within a few seconds they heard glass smash, and the yelling of two men.

"Shit! God dammit!" Reno turned and ran out of the church doors, followed by Elena and Rude. Tseng stayed where he was, eyeing Jerad and Aeris.

"You had both better hope they come back with those rebels. Or things will certainly take a turn for the worse for you." 

Brother and sister remained silent, glancing at each other. Aeris looked far more worried than Jerad, who always put on a brave face in spite of what was going on. She sighed and looked at Tseng.

"Why are you after them?"

"As if you don't know…" Tseng snorted. "I'm not fooled."

"Just leave us alone…" Jerad growled, knowing Tseng wasn't planning to do anything of the sort. He listened for any sounds that may give a clue as to what was happening outside…


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"C'mon Jim… we gotta get going." Danny had surprisingly landed with the grace of a cat, despite originally hobbling he now seemed top be in no physical pain. Jim, on the other hand, felt like he had broken his ankle. He looked up at Danny curiously.

"I don't remember being trained to land from high distances…" He grumbled.

"We weren't… guess I got lucky." Danny extended his hand, Jim took it and slowly lifted himself up, wincing. 

"It isn't so bad, I'll be alright."

"I'd dispute that." The voice of Reno came from behind Jim, who swivelled round sharply, causing him to cry out from the abrupt pain in his ankle. Danny stepped next to Jim, glaring at the Turks. Tseng was not anywhere in sight. Rude and Elena held the machine guns up at them, Reno had a new weapon, some kind of black stick that was making a strange humming sound. He currently had it pointing to the ground, both Danny and Jim hoped it stayed there. At least for the time being.

"Stay away from us…" Danny drew his sword carefully, looking for any reaction from the Turks. 

"I would advise against that." Reno said calmly. "Mr. Rude is known to have a bit of a short fuse. He especially dislikes it when people try to point weapons at him."

Rude growled, cracking his knuckles and then rolling his head from side to side, emphasising Reno's point. 

"I think you'll find I don't care." Danny replied, wondering whether an escape would present itself this time. They could run backwards, but it led to a small alleyway with a rather high wall. Danny figured he could jump it without a problem but with Jim in the condition he was in it was unlikely he'd be able to do the same. Looked like he'd have to stay and fight the Turks alone, somehow. 

'This sure doesn't look good. Why can't the odds be in my favour for once?' Danny thought to himself dismally. His sword gleamed slightly in the sunlight as he held it at the Turks. It was a nice day, quite hot, and Danny found it didn't seem like the right conditions for him to die. Not that it mattered, on the other hand. 

"Danny… what the hell are we going to do now?" Jim whispered.

"There's not much you can do." Reno chuckled, aiming his new weapon at the both of them. "My suggestion is immediate surrender. I would say I don't want any unnecessary pain to be caused… but that would be a lie."

"No chance!" Danny kept his sword held high, if he was going to be captured, he would go down fighting, just like he had outside Kalm and when they'd been ambushed in Midgcar, but, both of those times luck had come upon he and Jim just in time. He figured by now his luck had pretty much ran out. Reno stepped forward, a smirk on his face. His dark red hair fell in wisps in front of his dark eyes. He was dressed in such a way that you'd think he'd been in a rush. Indeed, it was a very untidy look, but in a way it personified him. Everything about him suggested a lack of care or patience, from the tone of his voice to the untidiness of his appearance. Danny found himself wondering why Aeris would have wanted to be with him. Women sure were strange.

"The hard way it is, then." Reno aimed his weapon and a stream of electricity shot out, hitting Danny in the chest and causing him to stagger backwards, crying out.

"What the hell is that?" Danny growled, clutching his chest where he had been hit. 

"This?" Reno held up the black stick, grinning. "It's a prototype weapon developed by our friends at the ALIEN Military Division. I believe it's been aptly named an electrostick. It's quite handy when dealing with pests like you."

Danny knew to stand any chance of defeating Reno he'd need to disable the electrostick somehow, but how could he get that close to him? As soon as he moved Reno would just fire another electrical stream at him…

"Do you surrender?" Reno pointed the stick at Danny again. Getting no reply, he shook his head and fired another stream of electricity. Danny fell to one knee, his breaths short and ragged. 

"Stop it! Jim stared at Reno intently, trying to find a sign of weakness or compassion within the Turk's dark brown eyes. There was none. 

"And ruin my fun?" Reno grinned sadistically, getting ready to fire another shot. Danny would not be able to take many more. His chest was burning painfully already from the first two shots, he didn't know or want to know what damage had been caused at this point. As Reno prepared to fire another stream, there was a rustling sound, and from above a figure swooped down, literally out of nowhere. It landed on one-knee, and drew itself up slowly. The Turks faces took on a look of sheer amazement, they were stunned. Danny crawled backwards a little, so he was next to Jim. 

"Who the hell is that?" Jim said, louder than he'd intended to. Neither the Turks nor the mysterious man answered. Danny looked at Jim with confusion, getting to his feet shakily, clutching his chest and breathing quickly. 

"It can't be…" Reno's voice was now quiet, barely above a whisper, and held a slight shake. The complete opposite of his tone previously. "Sephiroth…"

The figure, male, did not move. He did not speak nor did his facial expression change. He stared at Reno, an unreadable look upon his features. Reno slowly advanced towards Sephiroth.

"Is it really you, Sephiroth? We all thought you were dead… where the hell have you been? What have you been doing? Why didn't you tell us? It's been so long since we last saw you…"

Sephiroth still did not speak. His face changed to a scowl. Reno stopped advancing and backed away, raising his eyebrow and looking back at his fellow Turks. Rude's mouth was hanging open, and Elena was visibly shaking.

"You haven't changed one bit." Reno said, a little quieter. His voice held a slight sense of suspicion now. "We're currently dealing with these two rebels. You can either assist us or step aside, then we can have a longer talk. The job is nearly done."

"You shall not touch them." Sephiroth's first words were icy and somewhat frightening, he drew his blade.

"Sephiroth!" Reno stepped back, his eyes wide. "Wait! What are you doing?"

Not replying, Sephiroth sprinted forward at an inhuman pace, past Reno and drove his sword into Elena's chest. The female Turk gasped in surprise, a shocked expression on her face. 

"No!" Rude cried, but was rooted to the spot in fear. Sephiroth retracted the bloodied blade and turned to Reno as Elena collapsed to the floor, bleeding heavily. 

"Leave them, or you will be next." His voice was toneless, as if he had done nothing at all.

"Oh God…" Reno's breathing was erratic, he ran to Elena and picked her up gently. "You'll regret this, Sephiroth!" His voice lacked any conviction, and his facial expression certainly didn't portray the anger he was trying to impose. A flicker of a grin passed across Sephiroth's face, but he did not attack Reno. With a final glance, Reno ran for his life, followed closely by Rude. All that remained of the Turks was the large abundance Elena's dark-red blood. 

Danny and Jim could not believe what they had seen. They simply stared. Sephiroth did not turn to them, instead he wiped his sword, re-sheathed it, and disappeared. 

"What? Where did he go?" Jim questioned, looking around wildly.

"Who was that guy?" Danny said absent-mindedly, still staring at the spot where Sephiroth had been standing. 

"They said he was Sephiroth…" Jim also turned to face the spot Sephiroth had been standing.

"The insane soldier? I doubt it… but if it is… what is he? Did you see how fast he moved?"

"Quicker than Jerad, that's for sure."

"Whoa!" Danny leapt up. "Tseng is in there with Aeris and Jerad!"

"Oh crap…" Jim turned to the church. "Let's go!"

Both sprinted towards the church entrance, and entered, but were confused to find no Tseng in sight. Aeris was crying, Jerad holding her and trying to calm her down. He saw the two rebels and a dark look came over his face.

"You two, out! We can't handle this!"

"Alright." Danny answered immediately, nodding. "Just tell me… where did Tseng go?"

"Reno came in screaming something about Sephiroth…" Jerad stroked Aeris's hair gently. "Tseng left immediately. What happened out there?"

"Sephiroth saved us." The disbelief on Jerad's face was mimicked by the tone Danny had used when saying the sentence. "I don't understand it either… but it was him." Danny turned to Jim, who nodded confirmation. 

"I think he killed one of the Turks." Jim said.

"Killed?" Jerad echoed, his disbelief giving way to confusion. He shook his head, sighing. "I don't know… and I don't care. You have an hour to pack."

"Pack what?" Jim shrugged. "We came here with only our swords. We may as well go now."

Danny nodded, looking at Aeris briefly. "Yeah. Sorry for all the trouble we caused you. We didn't want to get innocent people involved." He waved and exited the church with Jim, his footsteps echoing ominously. He suddenly had a very bad feeling.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sorry I took a while to update… been busy with school and such #_#… plus at this point I'm having to write out new scenes instead of just polish and edit ones I've already written. 

----

It had begun raining. At first it was a few drops, then it began pouring. It was strange, the rain of the slums, for the metal structure of the top plate above did not permit them to see the clouds, the cause of the downpour, rather, the rain came through the cracks and edges of the top plate, of which there were seemingly plenty, and therefore created a very uneven and bizarre looking rainfall.

"Guess our luck is pretty worn out…" remarked Jim as they crawled into a large-sized tube sticking out of one of the large walls that separated Sector 5 from the other sectors. This wall in particular was huge, stretching over many miles in all directions. 

"I hope this tube doesn't have any of that stuff they suck out of the planet in it…" Danny said, sniffing the dank odour around them. "I've heard it's poisonous."

"From who?" Jim raised his eyebrow.

"Don't remember." Danny replied, shrugging and sitting on the edge of the tube, staring out at the bleak scene around them. There were a few poorly built houses in front of them, not built too closely  to the wall, as ALIEN had ordered some kind of limit. In the distance was the church, it was some way away now, and Danny didn't harbour much hope that they would revisit it. 

"After that fiasco at the church, there'll be swarms of police down here. We'd better leave as quickly as possible." Jim said, staring down the tunnel to see if he could make out any light. 

"They won't make a huge effort. Not for us."

"They sent the Turks here, didn't they? The Turks are pretty high up in the organisation. Remember when the came to Kalm?"

Danny remembered all too well. It had been quite soon after he and Jim had met Tifa. They had watched with curiosity as the Turks entered the town, asking questions and shoving the townsfolk around. Danny remembered people being extremely scared, and a few women even began crying. Tifa had thrown a stone at Reno's head. Being a young man back then, perhaps no more than seventeen, Reno had turned around and began yelling at her, threatening to chase her. Tifa had responded with a grin and another throw, this one Reno dodged. Just as it seemed Reno was going to come after Tifa, Tseng had put his hand on Reno's shoulder. Tseng was still relatively young at that point. Not much older than Reno, and he wasn't the leader. The leader of the Turks had been a blond-haired man, with dark eyes and a scar across his face. Rude and Elena had not been there. 

"Tifa was so crazy." Danny laughed, and then sighed. He missed her a little, ever since she'd left he'd often wondered what had become of her. Her parents had been distraught, and in many ways Danny felt they were angry with him for letting her leave. He convinced himself there was nothing he could do, yet, there was always a little voice, continually reminding him he could have grabbed her arm, called out to her, even gone with her…

"Yeah!" Jim interrupted Danny's thoughts, laughing. "Maybe she's here somewhere, too. If we can find her…"

"We won't." Danny's dead serious voice cut the conversation short. He said no more, and an uncomfortable silence descended upon the two. They hadn't talked about Tifa much since she'd gone. 

"What do you think Aeris and Jerad will do now?" Jim asked after a few minutes. "They surely can't stay in the church."

"I suppose ALIEN will want to find them and get as much information out of them as they can… they'll probably move somewhere else. I'm sure they have plenty of friends here."

Danny was sure Aeris and Jerad would be fine. Whilst he could care less what happened to Jerad, he was concerned for Aeris, as she had shown such kindness to both of them. She had not kicked them out, and had often defended them. He felt guilty that they were now leaving them with a big problem, and turned to Jim.

"Let's not get any more innocent people involved, okay?"

"Okay." Jim nodded, he too felt responsible for the situation they had put Aeris and Jerad in. "Well, I can't really see what's down that tunnel… but I think we may be able to get to a different sector through it. Shall we get going?"

"Actually… I'd like to sit here for a bit. At least until the rain stops…" Danny replied, staring at the church again.

"Sure… I guess." Jim sounded a little confused, but shrugged and sat next to Danny, looking out and also fixating his gaze on the holy structure that seemed so faraway. For just over an hour they sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Danny's mostly consisted of Tifa, Aeris and how he'd left both disappointed. In a way he had let them both down. Jim on the other hand was purely thinking about the future, and whether they'd find his parents. Every time their image came into his head, he felt his heart ache. He just couldn't believe they could be dead. They had to be in Midgcar somewhere, and he was determined to find them. He vowed to himself he would not leave Midgcar until he found them. The rain slowed to a drizzle, then eventually stopped altogether. The slums lightning remained the same, so there wasn't too much of a difference in the dull scenery. Danny wondered if the sun had come out above, or whether it was still overcast. His gaze became unfocused as his thoughts began whirring again, and he didn't register the far away cry of his name for a few seconds. When he did, he sharply looked up and saw two figures. One was running towards them, the other walking at a slower pace. They were dressed in two very large coats, which were a dark blue colour. They were hooded, so neither Danny nor Jim could make them out at first. It was only when the running figure got nearer they realised it was Aeris, and deducted the figure behind was Jerad.

"Aeris!" Danny smiled, happy to see her despite his guilt.   She stopped outside the tube, out of breath. After a few seconds she looked up at them, her face a mixture of happiness and tiredness. She certainly looked far different from the shaken and crying figure they had left behind.

"Danny! Jim! I knew you'd come this way!" She still hadn't quite caught her breath. "I just hoped… that you hadn't gone too far!"

"We decided to sit here for a little bit… what's the matter?" Danny asked.

"Jerad and I were talking… and we decided… we want to come with you." She said slowly.

The two rebels looked at each other, confusion in both their faces.

"It would probably be better if you didn't." Jim told her, smiling apologetically.

"Why? We're strong… we can fight!" She replied automatically, as if she'd expected a refusal. "We have no where else to go!" She looked at Danny. "They'll come for us… Jerad wouldn't be able to protect me on his own… please… we want to help you."

"I don't know…" Danny thought back to what he had told Jim about not getting anymore innocent people involved. Then again, were Aeris and Jerad not already involved?

"You'd better let us come." The slower moving figure had reached the tunnel. It was, of course, Jerad, and he was seemingly in no better of a mood than before. "After what you've done… getting us into this!"

"Jerad!" Aeris sighed.

"No, it's alright." Danny said quietly. "He's right. We both feel guilty… if you want to come with us, you may. Tell me, does this tunnel lead anywhere?"

"Originally it didn't…" Jerad replied.

"Originally?" Danny questioned.

"I modified it. Took a while, but, I completed my work. It now goes through to sector seven." Jerad finished, a hint of pride in his tone.

"Then we'll go there… then we plan to go to sector six, to climb the pole." Danny said.

"How did you know about that?" Jerad mused, looking at both of them suspiciously. Danny simply winked and turned to Jim.

"Shall we get going?"

"We can get to sector seven before dark, then find somewhere to camp out for the night." Jim nodded.

"Camp out?" Aeris said, uneasily. 

"We can't stay in any hotels. Too risky." Danny replied, turning round in the tunnel and beginning to crawl inside, the others following, with only pitch blackness ahead. He hoped no nasty surprises awaited them.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I have actually put the rating back down to a PG-13 for now, but I'm pretty sure it will go up to an R at some point, mostly because later chapters shall probably re-enforce the need for it. We'll see. I've shown many people the gory extracts and some have had very negative reactions, not to the writing but to the images, so, I figure I may be walking a tightrope. Thanks anyway for the links and such Strata, I appreciate your reviews and helpfulness a lot. Thanks also to my girlfriend Stacy for checking out my work before I post it ^_^

----

They seemed to be crawling through the tunnel for hours. Danny often hit his head on a dead end, cursing and feeling around for where the tunnel twisted and he could continue crawling. Jerad had obviously not been sure where he was digging when he made this tunnel, and Danny thought he was lucky he hadn't hit a mako pipe. For if he had, he would surely have been a dead man. He thought he could catch someone laughing every time he hit his head, it could be any of them. He wouldn't be surprised if Jim or Aeris found it funny, as for Jerad, he was probably shaking his head and snorting every time he did. 

"Dammit!" He cursed as his head again hit against a jagged edge, he was surprised he hadn't been cut yet. The edges were often sharp, and whatever tool Jerad had used, it had not been very smooth. 

"We're near the end now." Jerad's voice echoed round the tunnel.

"Good." Danny growled, feeling to his right which was empty space. Turning, he began crawling that way. He focused his eyes and noticed a very small dot of light in the distance. The exit was finally in sight. Danny was glad he wasn't squeamish, for there were quite a few rats and other assorted rodents and insects infesting the tunnels. Aeris let out a scream every so often and groaned, stating in many different and sometimes profane ways how she hated the tunnels. Neither Jim nor Jerad seemed bothered by the whole thing, and very little was said. Danny began crawling faster, eager to get out of the nasty smelling, dark pipes and out into what was called "fresh-air" again, although the people of the slums would certainly prefer some real fresh air. After a few minutes, he literally threw himself out of the tunnel, landing hard on the ground below, but not caring. He breathed in the air and felt his forehead, wincing a little at the soreness. Jim fell out in a similar way, has hand hitting Danny on the head.

"Watch it!" Danny growled.

"Sorry, wuss." Jim laughed, breathing in the fresh air with some vigour.

Aeris and Jerad exited the tunnel in a more graceful fashion. Danny and Jim stood up, looking around. This sector was so small, you could see the four stone solid walls surrounding it just by looking around. However small it was, it had a somewhat cosy look to it. A few bars were spotted around, as well as a hotel and a sprinkle of houses to the east and west of what appeared to be the industrial area. 

"The people here are friendly, but they wouldn't hesitate in a second to hand you both over." Jerad stated. There was a small bunker I created not too long ago towards the back of the Seventh Heaven Bar. I'll go and see if it's still there."

"How do we know you aren't going to turn us over?" Jim asked suspiciously.

"We don't have time for this… listen, human, if you'd rather come with me, be my guest." Jerad growled, turning away from him.

"Human?" Jim turned to Danny and Aeris, looking confused. Danny shrugged, Aeris simply smiled at Jim. "Alright then, I'll go with you."

"What about us?" Danny asked.

"You stay here, and keep Aeris safe…" Jerad turned to Danny, locking eyes with him. "You'd better keep her safe."

Danny raised his eyebrow. "Right…"

"Of course he will!" Aeris hugged his arm and grinned at Jerad, who growled and glared at her, before turning promptly around and storming towards the industrial area, Jim following behind him. 

"You did that just to annoy him." Danny said.

"I know…" She began laughing, Danny did too. He found it strange that two siblings were so different. Jerad was the personification of overprotective brother. 

"Come on." She jumped up to the end of the tube and sat on it. Danny shrugged and jumped up next to her. After a few seconds, she turned to him.

"I saw the guards…" Her tone was quiet, reserved, without judgement. "You and Jim … you killed them?"

Danny nodded. "Yes, we did… it was either us, or them. My hands have too much blood on them now to worry about death. I was taught long ago, death is part of life. It happens to everyone, and if you deal it, you should make it quick and as painless as possible. I don't believe killing is honourable very often, but at least if you make it quick, you are limiting the suffering somewhat."

"I know, I wasn't accusing." She smiled. "I was just a little shocked. I know you guys are fighters, and that you've killed before, but all the same… I've gotten to know you… and you don't seem like the violent type."

"We're not." Danny's gaze focused on the dots that Jerad and Jim had become. "But, we must survive. If we have to kill to survive, we will."

"I wish the world was different. That good people like you and Jim didn't have to kill to survive…" She sighed.

"Me too." Danny turned to Aeris, she was looking at him. Feeling stupid for not saying anything, he said the first thing that came into his head. "So, what's the deal with Reno?" As soon as he said it he knew it was none of his business and not the right thing to say. Aeris's face became sad, she stared at the ground and let out a sigh.

"Reno… I've known him since we were young. He'd often come with me when I went places, because at that time the security flaws around Midgcar were letting monsters into the city, it was dangerous to go out alone. I was about eight when he began helping me… my mother wasn't around. She disappeared a few years before…" Aeris looked like she wanted to say something else, then closed her mouth and eventually continued. "Anyhow, I guess Reno was about twelve, maybe thirteen. He'd seen me being attacked by a small monster and chased it away for me. I'm not sure why, but since then he made sure to protect me wherever I went. It was sweet, and I grew to love him as I got older… when he was fifteen he joined ALIEN, but we kept in touch. He told me he was being considered for a high position, as a member of the Turks. We all knew about the Turks, and nobody liked them. Reno said that the Turks were just doing a job, and that he'd never let them hurt me… or any innocent people… I thought he was so good, so brave… I trusted him…" She stopped again, wiping her eyes. 

"You don't have to…" Danny started, but she waved her hand.

"It's alright. I'm too emotional anyway, Jerad always tells me that." She chuckled. "Anyway… he got into the Turks, and was often away for long periods of time, sometimes months. I didn't see him much, but he made sure to visit me whenever he could. Even Jerad liked him, because he'd protected me, and cared for me. The years went by… Reno wouldn't tell me much about what he was doing, only that he was sticking to his promises. When I was seventeen…the nun that had been taking care of us died… Jerad and I were both distraught, because we loved her so much… Reno appeared a few days later and saw the state I was in, and I guess he figured he could make me feel better… so he comforted me, and then told me he loved me, and he wanted us to start seeing each other. I was shocked… but so happy…"

"This doesn't sound like the guy I saw at the church." Danny stated.

"I know." The remorse in Aeris's voice was extremely saddening. "He went away for a while soon after that. I didn't see him again until I was eighteen. That's when he revealed he was going to be in Midgcar a while, as the Turks operations were becoming more internal. I, of course, was delighted and we spent a lot of time together. It wasn't until a year later that … that I knew he'd changed. He'd gotten colder over the months, and I attributed it to the stress of his job. He was often sarcastic, and took less care of his appearance, sometimes his was just downright mean. I still loved him, and one day he asked if he could spend a few nights at the church with me, since his operations were near that area. Jerad was away in a different sector, so I agreed… we shared a room, the first night we just hugged and kissed, and it was nice… the second night…" She closed her eyes, the sadness in her voice becoming greater. "He wanted to have sex. I wasn't ready, we didn't have any protection and I wouldn't risk getting pregnant, even though I loved him. I tried to reason with him, but he tried to force me… and eventually I slapped him, hard. After that he left, and spent the other nights downstairs. I tried to make it up to him, told him I loved him and I'd do it if we used protection… but he'd have none of it. He told me we couldn't be together anymore and stormed out. He didn't visit me much after that… and every time it was so uncomfortable. Back there was the first time I'd seen him in months, and, it scared me so much…" She went silent. Danny had a slight urge to hug her, but quickly decided against it and tried to think of some words to comfort her. He wasn't very good at this.

"What an asshole." He said eventually. "That's a stupid thing to break up over… if he loved you, he would have accepted you weren't ready."

"Yeah, I know that now. At the time I blamed myself, and I thought I should have just done it… but now I'm glad I didn't. I got to see what he'd really become. I don't know what happened to him."

"People change, I suppose." Danny said.

"What about you?" She turned to him. "Had any relationships?"

"No." Danny said simply. "I don't get close to people."

"Why not?" Aeris seemed confused, and not worried about breaking personal ground, as Danny had been.

"My parents… they weren't the best role models. They used to hit me a lot, and hated me… they made my life a nightmare."

"Oh, that's so sad… how can any parent do that to their own child?" Aeris said with genuine sympathy.

"I was adopted." Danny said straight away. "That was made very clear from the start." His voice held no tone of anger or resentment, it was icy cold, as if he had frozen that portion of his life in an emotionless void.

"There's something I suppose we have in common… do you know what happened to your parents? Why they gave you to them?" Aeris said quizzically.

"Nope… they wouldn't say and I never bothered to find out. My past… I try to forget it. Not that the future seems a whole lot better." He sighed. "I moved out when I was sixteen, got a flat with Jim and we shared rent when we got jobs with the army. At the time the army was recruiting anyone it could get. I think they knew war was coming. Stayed that way for five years… Jim had a few girlfriends, I remember, but they never really lasted, I never went out, so, I never met anyone. I didn't want to meet anyone. I just wanted to be alone."

"And now?" Aeris asked quietly.

Danny turned to her, smiling a little. "Now I'm beginning to think I should have made more of an effort to find out about the outside world."

"Yeah, you should have…" She followed his gaze to the town and a comfortable silence fell between them, as they both contemplated the future and what it held.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

When they 'know' we are evil  
We're strangers  
And danger and fire,  
The dark and the light  
We are eyes in the night  
Lost souls' they curse

As we sail away, moonstruck and astray  
We're fallen angels  
We're the scary tale to scare your mind away  
From fallen angels

---

"Ah, my fallen angels return." Rufus's slightly sarcastic voice was dry, and it seemed to Tseng as he entered the President's office with Reno there would be a lot of explaining to do. The Turks very rarely completely failed a mission, with him as leader, they had never failed. This was their first incomplete mission. Tseng didn't blame Reno, and trusted his judgement fully. He believed Reno when he said Sephiroth had been there, and the near-fatal injury suffered by Elena added to the proof. She was lucky to be alive.

"President." Tseng said simply, awaiting what Rufus had to say. For a few moments the room stayed silent, in the distance there was the faint sound of chatter, ALIEN employees worked directly below them, and the sound carried softly into the office of the president.

"I hear your last mission didn't exactly go to plan." Rufus turned in his chair, brushing some dark brown hair out of his eyes and staring out of the large window at the back of his office. It overlooked the vast plains to the East of Midgcar, in the distance one could make out a tiny black dot. The charred remains of Kalm.

"I'm afraid not. Things were going relatively well…" Tseng paused, pondering how to phrase the rest of his sentence. "However, we ran into … difficulties."

"I figured you were strong enough to defeat a couple of rebels." The comment from Rufus made Tseng cringe. He felt like his pride had been cut in half and sighed.

"We would have. Nobody could have anticipated what happened…" 

"I'm eager to hear what could have caused such a simple mission to go awry." Rufus cut Tseng off, still not facing him.

"I wasn't there, I was inside with the two occupants of the facility. Reno, Rude and Elena were the ones who faced this problem. Therefore, I shall let them explain." Tseng turned to Reno, who nodded, they had already agreed Reno would be the one to explain the mishap.

"President. I apologise for our failure to complete our mission. However, I believe you will find our reasons for retreating were justified."

"Continue." Rufus's tone had not changed.

"We had the rebels defeated. They had killed six of our guards, however, upon trying to escape, one had injured himself jumping from quite a distance. The other tried to defend him and I dealt him a couple of blows with the new prototype… it seemed they were ready for capture, but that's when …" Reno took a deep breath, knowing how crazy this would sound. "That's when Sephiroth appeared."

Silence again. This lasted longer. The Turks could just about make out Rufus's reflection in the glass, it had not changed. His eyes however looked thoughtful now. 

"Sephiroth. The soldier who has been missing for so long?"

"Yes." Reno nodded, absolute conviction in his voice. "I have no doubt about it, sir. He was as amazing as the stories say. We couldn't stop him attacking Elena… she was stabbed in the chest."

"How is she?" The question was empty, Rufus certainly didn't honestly care about Elena's well-being as a person, simply as a commodity.

"In as good condition as could be hoped." Reno replied. "He barely missed her heart… she is lucky to be alive. After he stabbed her, he told us to leave. We couldn't combat that kind of skill, so I decided it was in our best interests to leave."

Rufus slowly turned back to face Reno, locking eyes with him. "Why did you not get Tseng, and then go back to defeat him?"

"I don't think we could have." Reno replied honestly.

Rufus had only heard about Sephiroth in stories. As had Reno, for the most part. Reno acted like he knew Sephiroth, and Rufus found it irritating. People still talked a lot about him, and his mysterious disappearance. He was without a doubt the greatest soldier ever to exist in ALIEN's ranks. Rufus used to get sick with the constant storytelling his father used to indulge in about the heroic soldier. He had grown up with an image of Sephiroth as some kind of immortal warrior. Where had he gone? Nobody knew. Rufus's father had only told him that Sephiroth's wife was found dead, one day, and his two sons gone. Sephiroth had disappeared, as had his sons. It was assumed either Sephiroth had taken them, or killed them. Some suggested perhaps all three were dead along with his wife.

"Whilst this story does sound rather fictitious…" Rufus looked at Reno again. "I have no reason to doubt your words. You have been extremely reliable and efficient in the past. If Sephiroth is indeed back, it would seem he is no longer on our side. If he is a rebel, he will need to be destroyed. I take  his attack on Elena and other guards as a declaration of hostility, and he is now considered an enemy of ours."

"Other Guards?" Tseng said, a little surprised.

 "I was sent some footage a short time ago…" Rufus pressed a small button on his desk. A holographic screen appeared before them, and the slaughter of the two guards by a silver-haired fighter, resembling Sephiroth in every way, was played. 

"That was the same man I saw." Reno said as the hologram vanished. 

"So it seems." Rufus responded, he still looked thoughtful, unable to understand Sephiroth's reasons for attacking them now. Their political gain should not have been of any significance to him. 

"Sir…" Reno said uneasily. "Permission to speak freely…" He had noticed something he thought should be brought to Rufus's attention.

"What is it?" Rufus sounded slightly annoyed at the idea of the subject being changed.

"I've noticed… one of the rebels we fought resembles you rather closely in looks."

"Meaning?" Rufus growled after a few seconds. 

"That I believe he may be styling himself in your image to gain a mistaken identity." Reno concluded quickly.

"The Guards will know the difference." Rufus said, waving his hand. "It is an unfortunate coincidence. Is that all?"

"What are our future orders?" Tseng asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt. Rufus turned his gaze to Tseng and sat back, humming to himself and nodding.

"Yes, your orders. Until Elena gets better, I want you all to be on the hunt for the rebels. That includes Sephiroth. Send Guards to the location you visited previously and take the occupants prisoners, if they still reside there, which I doubt…"

Tseng nodded. The Turks made their way to the door, when Rufus spoke again.

"Oh, Tseng, one more thing."

Tseng turned to Rufus. "Hm?"

"I expect results, fast. Don't fail me again." Rufus had turned back to the window, a smirk on his face.

"Yes, President." Tseng nodded and followed Reno out of the president's office. Overall the meeting had gone far better than he'd planned. He had expected an outburst from Rufus, yet, the president had remained relatively calm. Although in some ways he felt the sarcastic comments were just as angering. He hoped they didn't meet Sephiroth again, yet he knew if they found the rebels, Sephiroth would not be far behind.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Sorry this one took me so long. Been working extra hours and been a bit unmotivated. All better now ^_^

---

So here they were again. Another year, another battle for the 7th Heaven bar. For four years it had been struggling to feed the men in power the money they ordered for the land they rented and the licenses to serve alcohol. This year looked to be the final year, unless a plan to attract more customers was thought up. The first three years were not a problem, despite the money often becoming very thin at the end of the year when all land tax and license fee renewals were paid to the ALIEN financial department, however the locals were drying up. Many were moving out of the slums, many out of Midgcar itself, to look for better standards of living. Tired of being forced to live in the polluted and run-down areas where their houses were situated, they migrated in search of cheaper yet cleaner land, relying only on rumours from travellers passing by. Today was another slow day at the 7th heaven bar. Tifa sighed, cleaning another glass despite there not being the need for it, the glass was sparkling as it was. She put it down and turned to face the two co-owners of the bar, Barrett and Cid, who were as usual sipping down a couple of beers and telling jokes with hearty-laughter. 

"We need to do something…" She said despondently. There were five people in the bar, two couples seated at tables opposite to each other and an old man who came in when they opened and left when they closed, often dragged out by his wife. Tifa figured if it weren't for him they would have been out of business a long time ago. 

"How 'bout we go steal some money from the ALIEN buildin'." Barrett grinned, he was desperate to attack the ALIEN main building, the headquarters, where the president resided and all decisions were made, however, so far they had only gone for smaller branches and outlets. In themselves those missions had been tough, and the three had been lucky to escape capture a number of times. 

"Nah, can't be bothered with that shit." Cid replied, taking another sip of his beer. "You know how long it takes to plan one of our normal attacks? It'd take us ten times as damn long to work out how to get past the security, then we'd have to work on the building."

"Damn, man." Barrett shook his head and finished his beer.

"We need to keep this bar… it's our only source of money and our hideout, it's perfect as we've been in business a few years, ALIEN hold no suspicions over this place. If we want to remain anonymous we're going to have to keep this place in business."

"Can't we set up somewhere else?" Barrett asked.

"No! We can't afford new licensing fees! The prices for land and rent have skyrocketed too since we got our land." Tifa sighed.

"Damn ALIEN. Hate 'em." Barrett began pouring himself another drink.

"We need something to attract younger people… the people we get in here are part of the older generation that are skipping town. The younger ones, that's what we need. Not kids, of course, but young adults." Cid looked thoughtful for a second. "A band!"

"Band?" Tifa shook her head. "I don't want a band here."

"Why the hell not?" Cid grumbled.

"They'd be loud, and might bring in unruly customers." Tifa argued.

"Unruly customers would probably have bought lots of beer first. If our crowds are doubled, we can afford to pay the band to play every week at least." Cid replied evenly, smiling as Tifa's scowl deepened. She hated being argued with, but knew that with the trouble they were in, Cid's idea may have to be given a shot.

"Yeah man, I think we should go for it." Barrett nodded, taking a swig of his newly filled beer and wiping his mouth. 

"You would." Tifa sighed. When she disagreed with one the other seemed to pipe up in agreeance, at which point it seemed to become impossible for her to put across her point of view. 

"I can play drums…" Cid shrugged. 

"I got some experience on bass, I could get down with that." Barrett added.

"So you're going to be in this… band? Now I really don't want to be here." Tifa growled.

"Harsh…" Barrett replied, glancing at Tifa and shaking his head. 

Two figures came through the doors. Tifa, Barrett and Cid's arguing had rendered them unable to notice the two new customers, as they normally would. The two men sat down at a table near the entrance and began talking. If Tifa had known their identities her attention would certainly no longer be focused on the future of the 7th Heaven Bar.

"Are you doing to get a drink? I'm thirsty." Jim asked, he had wanted to go straight to the bar and get a drink, but instead Danny had sat down.

"We can get a drink in a minute. It's not like we have tons to spend, you know." Replied Danny.

"Yeah… we need to get some money behind us, somehow." Jim shrugged, not really sure on how they could get money at this point. They'd have to get a job that paid in cash, since they had no ALIEN bank accounts, and the employer would have to be very uninterested in personal background. 

"Jobs don't just come out of the blue. Not in the slums, anyway. We can't go up to the surface yet, and especially not to get a job." Danny drummed his fingers on the table. "Our options are limited. Aeris said her and Jerad have some money, but Jerad isn't going to give any of that to us. I don't want to take their money anyway."

"Me either. Well, I'm sure something will come up, it always does. How much do you have left?"

"About seven hundred gil."

"I've got about that much as well. One thousand four hundred will last us a little while."

"I guess so. Hope that bunker Jerad found is as safe as he thinks, don't want him or Aeris hurt whilst we're out… but since we are…" Danny looked over to the bar briefly. "Wanna go get a drink?"

"Sure…" Jim nodded, but before they got up he turned to Danny. "I think my family would be in the slums… I don't want to go to the top plate until we've searched for them."

"Of course we will. We'll search both plates." Danny stood up and walked to the bar. He owed Jim's family a lot, they had taken him in when he was younger and his parents had kicked him out, or he had ran away, often fearing for his life. His father was mean enough when he was sober, but once he got drunk all hell broke loose. His mother stayed out of the way, when he was drunken and raging through the house in search of a fight, and when he was sober she often joined in. His father had got a fight alright, the day he'd left…

"Thanks." Jim's voice broke through his thoughts. "It'll be dangerous on the top plate."

"I owe your parents this much…" Danny replied as he got to the bar. A large, tanned man with short black hair, a white tank top and green trousers stood behind the bar. He had an extremely rough appearance. 

"What can I get ya?" His voice was just as rough.

"Two beers…" Danny said, looking at Jim who gave a nod.

"That's what I like to hear." The large man grinned and began filling the pint-glasses.

"Big time drinkers?" A voice to the left of them inquired. The two rebels turned to see a man with scruffy blonde hair and dark blue eyes taking a sip of a beer and searching for something in the pocket of his large blue overcoat.

"No… we just need one right now." Danny said, sounding a little tired.

"Fair enough. Hm, so, what you guys doing here?" Cid put down his glass and moved to the pockets of his navy trousers, growling as he seemingly was unable to find what he was looking for.

Danny and Jim looked at each other briefly, they couldn't tell him why, Jerad had been adamant that they shouldn't say a word to a soul about their plans. On the other hand, they had not thought up a counter-story.

"Just passing through." Danny eventually said, slightly uneasily.

"Well, what the hell are ya doing for money?" Barrett asked immediately, handing Danny and Jim the two full glasses of beer.

"Odd jobs." Jim quipped, taking a sip of his beer as Danny paid and took a sip of his own, it was the first drink they'd had in a while and both were by now extremely thirsty. As they entered conversation with Barrett and Cid, one, two and three beers seemed to go by far too quickly. Soon they found themselves laughing and joking with Barrett and Cid like they'd been friends for years. During the conversation, and about the fourth beer, Cid said something about ALIEN, and that's when Danny let slip.

"ALIEN! Those bastards… we're gonna take them out!" He knew immediately he should not have said that and laughed a little nervously. "Or at least, I wish, eh?"

"Yeah man, don't we all?" Cid nodded, apparently neither he nor Barrett had noticed or cared about the outburst. "If you need money, you know, we haven't got any jobs at the bar, but we're thinking about hiring a band. Don't suppose you guys do instruments?"

Danny was about to mutter a negative, but Jim's voice cut in. "How much?"

"I dunno…" Cid pondered. "About five hundred gil a show, I guess." 

Danny turned to Jim, to try and reason it out, but it was too late, Jim had already responded.

"As a matter of fact, we do happen to play… both of us can do guitar, uh, Danny here does our vocals…"

"That's good… Barrett and I were thinking about being in the first band, since it's experimental and our idea… he does bass or guitar, I do drums… think we've got all we need. You guys got any songs?" Cid downed his fifth or sixth beer, at least, since Danny and Jim had been there.

"Of course we do." Jim said slowly. Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Good. You'll have to show us what to do, come in tomorrow afternoon and we'll sort the rest out." Cid nodded, grinning. Danny, looking uncomfortable, finished his fourth beer and turned to the bar, checking out all the bottles of various alcoholic beverages. "Hey, you got anything a little stronger?"

"Heh, sure do." Barrett took out a much smaller glass and poured in some blue liquid. "Drink up." He smirked, handing it to Danny. 

"Hey, give me one too." Jim said with a laugh. Both clearly were no longer thinking straight. Danny stared at the liquid for a couple of seconds, shrugging and gulping it down, not really tasting it. He said the glass down and a wave of dizziness came over him. 

"Whoa…"

"Hey, looks good…" Jim shrugged and drank his a little slower, not that the effects were any different. 

"Hey, we gotta…go now…" Danny stood up shakily, grabbing onto the bar.

"Sure… just remember to get in here sometime tomorrow, eh?" Cid smiled and patted Danny on the back.

"Yeah…" Danny said slowly. "We'll be here, man…" He stumbled towards the door, Jim behind in a similar pattern.

"Did you have to give them something that strong?" Cid asked, laughing and finally finding the cigarette packet he'd been searching for earlier in the inside pocket of his overcoat.

"Hell, they needed it, man." Barrett nodded. 

"I'm not sure they'll agree with you in the morning." Cid shook his head, getting out his lighter and lighting up his cigarette. It was a bad habit he'd tried to kick, but so far failed. He shook his head and chuckling as Danny stumbled into Tifa on his way out. She had gone home to try and collect as many of the financial papers as she could, and she nearly dropped them, barely managing to keep a hold of them, and dodging as Jim went past her. She stormed in and sat down, slamming the papers on the bar.

"Who the hell were those two idiots?"

"Our band." Cid grinned.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_Bit of a short chapter. Next one will be longer. _

---

They seemed to have been stumbling for hours, or at least, that's how it seemed to Danny. The world was suddenly a mix of vibrant colours, swirling and swaying gently. The night-sky seemed to dance in front of his eyes. The world was a happier place than it had been an hour ago. He couldn't seem to stop smiling and often broke out in fits of giggles as his sluggish mind tried to remember the way to the bunker. It was deceptively well hidden, and Danny was unsure that he'd find it in his present state. Truth be told, he wasn't greatly concerned about it. He felt a solid object in front of him and knew he had come the wrong way. It seemed they had reached one of the walls around sector seven. 

"Damn…" He mumbled, turning round and stumbling backwards against the wall. He saw Jim had also sat down behind him, swaying slightly from side to side. Unless his eyes were playing tricks.

"I'm lost…" He said slowly, holding his head in his hands and sighing.

"Yeah, I noticed." Jim's speech was slightly slurred, he laid on his back and stared blankly up at the stars, the night was cloudless, and a full moon shone down brilliantly on them. 

"What the hell did those guys give usss…" Danny fell to his side and moaned, starting to feel a slight pounding in his head. Jim didn't respond. For a while they both stayed in those positions, until Danny hauled himself up, leaning against the wall for support.

"Come on, we have to get back… to Aeris and Jerad…"

Jim growled, swiping at something invisible. "Jerad doesn't want us there!"

"Aeris does…" Danny replied, closing his eyes and trying to straighten himself. "I… think I know the way."

"I doubt it, but whatever." Jim groaned and stood up, feeling nauseous. He suppressed the urge to throw up and stumbled after Danny, who was already on his way to where he believed the hideout to be. It took an hour, but amazingly Danny and Jim _did _find the hideout, nestled deep in a set of bushes behind a small factory. They stumbled through, each cursing as the branches pricked and obstructed them. Danny began to hiccup, but it stopped relatively soon. They emerged the other side. Aeris looked up at them, relief on her face.

"You're back!" She stood up and smiled, but looked less happy when she noticed the state both were in. "Uh, guys?"

"Yeahhh, we're back!" Jim tried to high-five Danny but fell to the floor and rolled to his side, mumbling. Danny shook his head, still feeling dizzy but beginning to feel the effects wearing off slightly. Though every turn still sent his vision into a spinning frenzy. 

"You guys got drunk?" Aeris asked quietly, an undertone of anger in her voice that Danny could detect despite his alcohol consumption.

"Only a little? They uh, gave us a really strong drink?" Danny shrugged and giggled, not meaning to, and cursed himself mentally.

"You two are unbelievable. I'm starting to doubt your motives… just what you're even here for…" She sighed.

Danny walked forward, gripping her arm strongly and causing her to gasp, staring up at him with a little fear.

"You listen to me…" He growled, a deep set anger in his normally passive voice. "I may have had a little to drink tonight, but I will never forget why I am here, and who I'm fighting for… I won't have you doubting my mission, not you, nor your brother… nobody. Jim and I had to watch our hometown go up in flames, people we'd known for years disappeared in front of our very eyes. ALIEN have nearly killed us numerous times and still threaten to do so. Don't you ever question my motives again, or Jim and I are out of here…" He stumbled back a little, glaring at her. "We didn't ask you to come along…" 

Her fear had subsided, and her face had become extremely sad. "Okay… g-goodnight…" She mumbled and hurried into the sheltered era of the bunker, where Danny assumed Jerad was. He fell down and rolled onto his back, staring blankly at the sky for a long time before sleep claim his ravaged mind.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Another Turks chapter. In my original(before editing) I had no Turks sequences. Funny how time affects how you look at certain parts of your stories.

---

"They won't be here." Reno's tone was full of frustration as he kicked the church doors open, not even bothering to raise his gun in anticipation of an attack. He was correct in his assumption, the church floor was empty. It was the first time he'd walked into this church and found it uninhibited. Normally Aeris or Jerad would be here to greet him, even after he'd broken up with her.

"Maybe not, but we could find some clues as to where they are now." Tseng strolled past Reno, his eyes slowly drifted around the church. It looked frozen in time. The glass window was still shattered, and the broken shards of glass floated helplessly in the fountain's murky water. A heavy dust had settled on the church seats, surprisingly somewhat heavier than before. Tseng continued forward until he got to the altar, where he slowly got onto one knee.

"Forgive me for this desecration." His voice was loud, he was certainly not trying to hide anything from his two shocked companions. Rude and Reno looked at each other and then back at Tseng.

"Since when were you religious?" Reno asked incredulously.

"Since I realised how much shit I'll be in if a God does exist." Tseng stood up, brushing himself off and turning to the stairs. "They may be hiding up there."

"Unlikely." Reno replied, shrugging. "But you're the boss."

With that, he and Rude ascended the stairs. Rude had his gun out, ready to fire. Reno was still positive nobody was here, and refused to act otherwise. He got to the top of the stairs first, wrinkling his nose as the smell of death slithered around him. He walked along the floorboards and poked one of the soldiers' bodies with his foot. 

"Didn't clear up after themselves." He grumbled.

"Should we clean this up?" Rude asked.

"That's not our job." Reno said, shaking his head and briefly checking all the rooms. He got to Aeris's and entered. Seeing the bloodstains on her floor and the bodies of two soldiers on the floor made him cringe. This was the last room where anyone should be killed. He growled and pulled his hand back to knock something off the table to ease his frustration, but then noticed it was a picture of Aeris when she was younger. He couldn't help but stare, feeling a sense of nostalgia, and love. He sighed and took the picture in his hand, still gazing at it sadly.

"Reno? Anything in here?" Rude's gruff voice interrupted Reno's recollection and caused his face to turn back to it's now normal arrogant expression.  

"No. I told you there's nothing here." He turned to Rude. "Check every room once more, just in case."

Rude nodded and disappeared from the doorway. Reno laid the picture down face-first on the table, opening the back of the frame and gently easing the picture from inside. He opened his blue suit a little and slipped the picture into the side pocket. It had been a long time since he'd felt so sentimental, and he hoped it would be the last time. He exited the room just as Rude was coming out of the room farthest from him.

"They're all clear. No clues I can see anywhere." Rude reported.

"Me either." Reno nodded and headed back down the stairs, Rude behind him. Tseng was kneeling down by the floors, examining them with a dry smile on his face. Hearing Reno and Rude approaching, he carefully plucked a yellow one out of the soil and took a small pin out of his pocket. He had once used it to hold his name badge to his navy blue suit, but Rufus had decided there was no need for that. Tseng took the pin and pierced the stem of the flower with it, attaching the pin carefully to his suit so that the flower was now stuck to the right hand side of his chest, like a symbol. Reno and Rude glanced at each other curiously again before stopping in front of their leader.

"Well?" Tseng asked, slight impatience in his voice.

"We searched every room thoroughly but there were no people or clues." From Reno's tone one would almost expect him to add 'I told you so' to the end of his sentence, but he remained quiet, a small smile on his face. Tseng seemed indifferent to it all.

"I see. Well, then we will have to do what we do best." He turned to the church doors and headed towards the exit. "interrogate."

"Tseng…" Reno said, not moving.

"What?" Replied Tseng icily.

"Forget it…" Reno thought better of his question as he and Rude followed Tseng outside, to begin their interrogation on the people of sector five. Reno prayed they were not too stubborn, for their own sakes. Tseng was one of the most ruthless men Reno knew, he and Rude were not far behind anymore. He had felt uneasy about the methods they'd employed for quite some time, but gradually those feelings had subsided. At first it scared him a little, but now he paid little attention to such things. At first he had made a distinction between his life and his job… now his life was his job. Tseng knocked on the first door, and Reno unconsciously felt for the picture of a young Aeris…


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_I forgot to update for a little while. Oh well. I've still been writing, and that's the important thing. Or something. _

---

"Ohh crap…" Danny moaned, holding his head as a wave of pain crashed through him. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Opening his eyes to the dim light of the shelter, he vaguely made out the covered sun behind the leaves that sheltered them. Danny sat up, groaning again and holding his head. He was a little dizzy, and decided that whatever he had been given was the strongest thing he'd ever had to drink. As he prepared to stand, he felt a foot placed on his back, in between his shoulder blades.

"The drunk finally wakes." Jerad scowled and shoved Danny down to the ground with his foot, snorting. Danny growled, getting to his hands and knees before Jerad once again shoved him to the floor with his boot.

"Get away from me…" Danny warned, glaring at Jerad.

"You won't scare me like you did my sister…" Jerad said, a little menace in his voice, and leapt forward, grabbing Danny and pulling him up. Jerad's strength surprised Danny a little, but after the demonstration back in the church, he knew the young man possessed some strength.

"What?" Danny rubbed his head again, trying to remember the events of the night before but failing. Jerad motioned to strike Danny, but stopped himself, a smirk coming to his face.

"You don't even remember. You're pathetic. You assaulted my sister!"

The very idea of himself performing such a violent act against Aeris made Danny cringe. He rejected it immediately, positive Jerad was playing with him. After all, he would never hurt a woman. He convinced himself of this and shook his head. 

"You're wrong!"

His head was beginning to pound. He shut his eyes and growled in pain, trying to calm his breathing.  Jerad seemed not to care and continued berating Danny, his hands slowly working up towards Danny's throat. It wasn't until she was upon him that Jerad realised Aeris had come out of the shelter.

"Jerad! What the hell are you doing?"

"This is none of your concern… I'm teaching him to respect you." Jerad replied, still burning a hole through Danny with his eyes.

"What's… he talking about?" Danny wheezed, Jerad's hands had by now got him by the throat.

"You don't remember?" Aeris shook her head, sighing. "Well, you were pretty out of it. Jerad, put him down this instant."

Jerad turned to her with a scowl, but eventually did as he was told, turning back to glare at Danny with hatred. Danny returned the glare as best he could, still feeling dizzy from the aching in his temples.

"You got drunk, grabbed my arm and mumbled something very noble." She said, sarcasm evident in her last few words. She looked a little hurt, and turned to Jerad, her face becoming angry. "However, Jerad, you have no right to come out here and assault him!"

"I was protecting you!" Jerad shot back.

"I can take care of myself… I don't need you, Reno, or anyone else!"

The siblings stared at each other, each looking as determined as the other. Danny looked on, a little perplexed. He shrugged, sitting down as Jerad shook his head, turning away from Aeris and walking out of the shelter without another word.

"Yeah, run away Jerad, like you always do when you can't accept something." Aeris sighed, sitting down too. She hadn't made any more gestures to signal to Danny she even acknowledged his presence. He was a little nervous, not to mention tired, and was happy to keep it that way. She, however, was not.

"Danny… why did you get drunk?" She looked up at him, her look of hurt made him feel guilty. He tried to suppress this and shrugged nonchalantly.

"It just happened. It's a mistake I won't be repeating any time soon." His voice was barely above a whisper, more of a mumble, as his head hurt too much to speak any louder.

"Do you remember what I said to you last night?" She asked intently.

"No." He looked up at her, tilting his head a little. "What did you say to make me so angry?"

Aeris looked away, sighing. "I suppose I shouldn't have said it, but I questioned why you were here."

"Oh…" Danny felt like listing the reasons he was here, but figured he'd probably done that the night before, and instead lowered his head and closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. It didn't work.

"Where's Jim?" He said slowly.

"He had to go and meet some people about a job." She shrugged. "We don't plan to stay here very long, do we?"

"I don't know." Danny remembered that Jim had said they could play instruments. This was only just true. They had both learnt a little guitar when they were in their early teens. Danny could remember how to play very basic chords but nothing else. He hoped Jim had remembered more than he. Although, he knew Jim had still tried to practice a little guitar after they officially stopped lessons. Hadn't Jim also called him the vocalist? There was no way he was singing in front of an audience. He'd never sung in his life!

"What are you thinking about?" Aeris asked, breaking the silence once more.

"Jim signed us up to be a band…"

"A band?" She raised her eyebrow.

He sighed. "We can both do a little guitar, the owners can play instruments… he wants me to be the singer…" He held his head and swayed forward a little.

Aeris let out a giggle. Danny raised his head and glared at her. "It's not funny."

"I think it is. I wanna see you sing!" A grin had come to her face, he frowned and shook his head.

"No! I'm not going to do it!"

"I'm guessing Jim's going to sign a contract, once he does you'll have no choice. Maybe you'll surprise yourself!" She stood up and strolled over to the entrance, peering out. "Hope he comes back soon…"

"Aeris! You aren't coming to watch!" He replied, standing up also, but stumbling and having to lean against a tree.

"I am too. Maybe Jerad can come!"

"Yeah, right. He'd only come so he could mock me later!" He growled, attempting to go forward but feeling a similar dizziness and falling back onto the tree. Aeris giggled again and sat down, awaiting either Jim or Jerad to return.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

---

Tseng held the terrified young man high in the air. His hand tightened around his throat, causing the young man to choke and squirm helplessly. Tseng's strength was a mystery to Reno, he seemed to have an abundance of it, yet he was not particularly muscular. It seemed to come from nowhere. Yet still Tseng has an aura of absolute control that seemed to hold you in a trance.

"I don't take mouth from punks like you." Tseng said calmly, a slight grin on his face. "If we wish to ask you questions we shall… and you shall answer them." His grip tightened, the young man's face was beginning to turn a light shade of blue.

"Please stop it! Don't hurt him!" The cry of the sobbing young woman had no affect on Tseng. She may as well not have been there. Rude had his hand firmly on her arm, not allowing her to move, though she tried desperately to break away from him. Reno stood and simply watched, not wanting to feel a part of the torture, yet knowing he was.

"I suggest you just tell us what we want to know." Reno lifted his electrostick and fired a light shot at the man's leg. He let out a choked cry and slowly his struggling faded to a few jerking movements. Tseng released his grip a little.

"Now, I will ask you one more time, did you see three men and a woman leave this sector?"

"Y-Yes…" He choked out weakly. Tseng put him down. The man fell to his knee and coughed, gasping for air. This was the first person who had said yes. Tseng turned to Reno with a smirk, Reno did not return it.

"Where did they go?" Tseng knelt down to the young man, as the volume of his voice was barely above a whisper.

"They went… through a tube… in the eastern wall…" He said slowly, shakily pointing in the direction of the Eastern wall. Tseng stood and gave the man a swift kick to the ribs, he fell onto his back and slowly rolled over to his side, coughing up some blood.

"Release her." Tseng said to Rude. Rude did as he was told. The woman shoved herself away from the bald Turk and knelt beside her husband, stroking his face and glaring with a fierce anger at the trio of Turks.

"Let's get out of here." Tseng said tonelessly, walking over to the wooden door and kicking it down. Reno and Rude followed their leader out of the house, leaving behind the broken man and his sobbing wife. Reno was a little surprised to find himself feeling slightly guilty. He hadn't felt guilt in a long time. He put his hand to his chest briefly, where the picture of Aeris was, then took it away, cursing himself. He had an urge to take the picture out and rip it to pieces, but knew he wouldn't be able to act on that impulse. He was pretty sure that soon the picture would be the only part of Aeris he had left. A grinding noise came from the top plate, Reno looked up to see a few sparks jumping around in the cracks of the plate. He'd never felt safe in the slums, with the huge plate looming overhead. Working for ALIEN he'd seen the plates were extremely strong and had support for if they had fall… yet still he felt uncomfortable when walking in the slums. The Turks made their way to the wall and spotted the tube immediately. It was easily large enough for somebody to crawl through.

"Where does this go?" Reno asked, peering inside but only seeing darkness.

"This is one of the old tubes left over from the original slums…" Tseng said slowly, pondering why the four rebels would have gone inside, when it inevitably only led to a dead end.

"The original slums? You mean the ones built on a higher footing?" Reno queried.

"Yeah." Tseng said, still in thought. "Somebody must have built another tunnel… but where would they come out?"

"Sector Seven." Replied Rude.

Tseng turned to him. "How would you know that?"

"I studied maps of the slums when I was a kid. All the time." Rude answered.

Tseng turned to Reno, who raised his eyebrow and shrugged. "I think he's right."

"Alright." Tseng nodded. "They may have left behind some kind of trap inside the tunnel, so we're probably better to go the long way. If they've left sector seven, it's likely we'll meet them along the way."

"The only place they could have gone from sector seven is sector six." Rude said.

"Exactly." Tseng turned and headed towards the exit of sector five, knowing they had little time to waste. They couldn't fail Rufus again… Tseng feared their lives as well as their jobs depended on it.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

---

Danny sat on the newly erected stage of the Seventh Heaven bar and became lost in thought. So much so that he didn't notice Jim behind him. Jim had to smack Danny round the head before he jumped up, growling.

"What the hell did you do that for?"

"You weren't responding to anything else." Jim shrugged, handing him a guitar. "Here, courtesy of our new employers."

"Hmm…" Danny checked it out, adjusting the strap and tuning it up a little. "Well, it's not a great guitar but it'll do."

"Here, come see the songs I made." Jim gestured to the other side of the stage and sat down by a few pieces of paper. Danny followed and sat by him, picking up the paper and scanning the notes briefly. He had never been good at reading music, and still understood only the basic parts. Jim still had to explain to him which chords were his. Whilst his chords were simple, Jim's were much more complex, and Danny was amazed Jim had been able to write such complex music. He had even written in the bass and drum parts.

"I was inspired." Jim shrugged.

"Didn't you have a headache?" Danny rubbed his head, his still hadn't completely gone away.

"Yeah, but… that seemed to drive me even more." Jim shrugged again, collecting the sheets of music and setting them to one side. "I'll show them to Barrett and Cid in a second. You know, it's weird…" Jim turned to Danny, looking extremely serious.

"What?" Danny laughed a little, thinking Jim was trying to catch him off guard, but found Jim's face remained the same.

"They said there's another person who works here, a woman…"

"So?"

"And that her name is… Tifa." Danny opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. He looked at Jim with a little shock and a short silence fell upon them before he spoke.

"It can't be her." His voice had become quiet and somewhat reserved. He turned away from Jim and shook his head. "Just can't be."

"Yeah, I'm sure it isn't…" Jim said softly, jumping off the stage and grabbing the sheets of music. "I'll go show these to the guys. They said Tifa will be back before our performance begins, so I guess we'll see for ourselves…"

"I guess so." Danny said to himself, once again losing himself in thought as Jim sat down at the bar and began discussing his songs with Barrett and Cid. After getting the affirmative from Barrett and Cid, Jim returned and he and Danny began rehearsing, Danny found he was pretty rusty, but Jim took to the guitar quickly, soon performing his riffs with ease. Danny was glad Jim had given him little to do, knowing he'd be unable to race up and down the frets as Jim was able to do. He realised Jim had been practising guitar a lot more than he had first presumed. When the bar became quiet Cid and Barrett also started practising, and Danny sat down to begin writing lyrics. He found this particularly easy and soon had a set of lyrics for each of the eight songs Jim had produced. He showed them to the others briefly, then realised he would have to sing these and cringed. He knew he couldn't sing, but what could he do? He and Jim needed the money, and Jim could sing no better.. he doubted Barrett and Cid were any good…

"How the hell did you come up with eight songs like that?" Cid asked, genuinely impressed that Jim had been so quick in writing down eight quite different songs.

"I've been thinking these over for a while… most of them I'd written at some time or another at home. It was just a case of remembering them." Jim shrugged.

"If you say so… these look good…" Cid gave the thumbs up and got back behind the drum kit, beginning to play again. Barrett had gone back behind the bar to serve a couple of customers.

"Hey Danny! Wanna hear this solo in song five?" Jim asked.

"Go for it." Danny turned to Jim and nodded. Jim burst into the solo and played it to perfection, his fingers moving expertly and never missing a chord. Danny applauded at the end.

"That was awesome."

"It'll sound even better when we play it live!" Jim grinned, extremely enthused about the performance. Danny hadn't seen him this excited about something in a long time. He was a little jealous, wishing he felt the same. However, whereas Jim seemed to have a love for music, he knew he did not have the same passion. He began playing his guitar again when he heard a gasp from behind him. He turned around and found himself staring into his past. Five years into his past.

---

He didn't like to be in this sector too long. It brought back a pain he couldn't describe. Yet he always came back… it fuelled his anger, and his hate. Sometimes, Sephiroth liked to visit the house she had let him stay in. Other times he would wander the village silently during the night, locating all the houses which had needed her help and received it. She had been such a kind person, so caring… and for a long time things had been perfect. He recalled the days when he would walk with her and just listen, sometimes for over an hour, because she never seemed to get boring. She was what he had left his world for, and now she was no more. He knew this, but he didn't want to believe it. He often wondered why he had awoken, only to be thrown back into torment. Well, that could be rectified. He was too proud to kill himself, besides, he knew what he needed to do.

"They killed you…" He murmured, standing outside her house with a frown. "We can get revenge. I will get revenge… for you. I'm going to have to spill blood along the way, Teritia. Lots of blood, because people won't listen to me. They don't understand… but we understand, don't we? Our son, Teritia… our son is the President of ALIEN… he's already staged a global takeover, or so it seems… it's like he's read my mind… but he's weak." Sephiroth frown deepened. "Too much pampering by the fool who adopted him. He hides behind hired protection. He's lost his connection with his Siat side. I need strong generals behind me, Teritia. Rufus can be one of them, if his ways are corrected… if his potential is awoken. Then there's our first-born, do you remember him? He's strong, he still has the ability to use his potential because his rage and hate has been fuelled! Once he knows my cause he will unite with me and we will execute the plan… but for now… I will watch them both. There is no need to act yet. Let us see how our sons act, Teritia. Rufus Alien the president of ALIEN, and Danny Whise… his strongest enemy."

Falling silent, Sephiroth stood at the house and stared for a few more minutes, before turning and  slipping back into the darkness, heading for sector 7, where Danny Whise currently resided.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

_Time's telling me to say farewell_

_But I knew that I would fight hell and I know we will_

_Go for another time we can see for another time_

_And be free for no more farewells._

"Tifa…" Danny found that was the only word he could say as he gazed at his childhood friend. It had been five years, but at this point it seemed not an hour had passed since the day she left. The day they had separated ways, though Danny always had the feeling they'd meet up again one day, he put that down to a blind hope. Yes, he had wanted to see her again, he did feel guilty that he had let her run out into the world on her own, with nobody to comfort her. In a way, he was glad to know now that she was alright, that she had established some kind of life and seemingly kept out of major trouble. On the other hand, a part of him wished he'd been left to wonder.

"You!" She gasped, her eyes wide. "No… it can't be you…"

Danny assumed Tifa was referring to himself and Jim, who was standing just behind him and had gone quiet. There was a long and awkward silence between them, the sounds from the outside world seemed to disappear, and the world centred around the three of them. Danny was faintly aware of some hearty laughter coming from behind Tifa, but paid it no attention. Instead, he slowly got off the stage, feeling as if the air had suddenly become a solid substance, and stood in front of Tifa.

"It's been a while…" He said.

She reached back and gave him a hard slap. He stumbled back, holding his face, but not feeling the anger he felt five years ago. Now, he felt somewhat that he deserved the blow, and plenty more. Five years ago he hadn't known of real guilt. The world seemed to suddenly accelerate, the laughter and gossip of the people around him became louder, and the air became lighter.

"What are you two doing here?" Tifa sounded on the verge of tears, but her face was icy. Danny wondered how much effort she was putting into that.

"We're playing in the band for this bar." Jim answered, jumping off the stage and standing next to Danny, folding his arms. "You're the third owner, huh?"

Tifa glared at both of them, a fierce look in her eyes. "I want you both out of here… go back to Kalm!"

"You haven't heard…" Danny said before thinking, and stopped before he could go any further. At first he cursed himself for saying it, but knew she would have found out eventually anyhow.

"Heard what?" Her voice was quieter now, fearful. Neither man said anything. She repeated herself in a louder voice, but still neither would say anything. Tifa lifted the books she was carrying and hurled them at Danny, who let them hit him across the chest and sighed.

"It's gone."

"Gone?" She echoed, he could see her hands shaking a little. He turned to Jim, whose face had now become grief-stricken, he was clearly thinking about his family.

"ALIEN burned it to the ground." He said slowly, not much emotion in his voice. Truth be told, he hadn't lost a great lot when Kalm burnt to the ground. He didn't have many friends in the small village and he could care less what had happened to his parents. The only emotion he truly felt was sympathy for Jim and now Tifa, as the devastating news was relayed to her, through him, of all people. She was still shaking, but the fierceness in her eyes had gone, replaced by a shocked blankness.

"H-How many survived?" She stammered. Danny didn't want to answer this question, mostly because he didn't know the answer, but also because he didn't think there were many, if any at all.

"We don't know. I think a lot of people died." He told her quietly, not facing her. How could he when he had just implied her family was dead?

"No, please, no…" She stumbled back, covering her mouth, tears falling freely now out of her eyes. This was not the reunion Danny had imagined. He nodded slowly and gave a sigh. She turned away from him and ran behind the bar, opening the backroom door and slamming it shut behind her.

"Tifa, wait!" Danny moved to follow her, but Jim caught his arm.

"No… let her be alone. I know how she feels."

Danny looked towards the door and shrugged. He wasn't going to go where he wasn't wanted. It seemed Tifa was even more volatile now than she had been five years ago, and to Danny that was enough of a warning to leave her be. He sat back on the stage and picked up the guitar, tuning it absently. Jim disappeared outside. Danny began strumming mindlessly until Aeris entered the bar and took his attention.

"If you play like that you're not going to get much of a crowd." She laughed a little, but stopped as she saw Danny's face. He looked not grief-stricken but despondent. "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing." He said, beginning to tune his guitar again. "Nothing you need concern yourself with."

"You haven't been drinking again, have you?" She asked, half-joking but a little concerned he had had a little to drink. She felt relieved when he shook his head and jumped up on stage next to him. "I can't wait for the show tonight!"

"The show?" He asked, his mind a little blank. "Oh yeah…"

"Something's wrong… but if you don't want to tell me about it, it's alright. Jim wouldn't say anything either." She folded her arms and looked around the bar. "I'm going to get a drink." She got off the stage and sat down at the bar, looking around at the many drinks on offer.

"What can I get ya?" Barrett asked, coming out of the backroom. He had briefly glanced at Danny, but he hadn't noticed. He was strumming again.

"An orange juice, please." Aeris replied with a smile. Barrett returned the smile half-heartedly and got her an orange juice. As he gave a glass to her she prepared to pay, but he waved his hand.

"On the house, for such a pretty lady."

She blushed a little and took the glass. "Thank you. Danny didn't say such nice people worked here."

"You know Danny, eh? Excuse me for a second, don't mean to be rude, but I got some stuff I gotta talk with him about." Barrett said, exiting the bar and walking over to where Danny was. Aeris followed him with her eyes curiously. He obviously had something on his mind, and it was likely linked to whatever Danny was worrying about. She couldn't hear from where she was, but she figured she'd be able to pick up a little from their body language and facial expressions.

"Yo, Danny…" Barrett said gruffly, standing underneath him.

"What?" Danny said, lifting his head up. It seemed he'd been zoned out.

"What's up with Tifa? She's all flustered, cryin' and I can't get two words out of her… summit happen out here?" Tifa hadn't told him. Danny would have to relay the news again, but this time he was completely toneless.

"I told Tifa that her hometown, and mine, Kalm, was burnt to the ground… with no known survivors. Her family lived in Kalm."

"Who did it? Those ALIEN bastards?" Barrett let his hatred for ALIEN slip with those words, but he didn't care.

"Yes… it must have been."

"Who told you this?" Barrett asked, his face a mixture of sympathy for Tifa, and maybe himself, and anger. Danny gave a slight grin and chuckled.

"Nobody." His face then went grim, and he stared straight at Barrett. "I saw it with my own eyes. Jim and I were the only survivors of that massacre!"

Barrett took an almost unnoticeable step back. "You… you're one of those rebels, ain't ya? You and Jim!"

He'd blown it now. His blank mind returned to its normal state, but it was too late. He kept his mouth shut and didn't look at Barrett. Would they turn him in? Jerad seemed to think so, he had warned them earlier not to trust anybody, but it was too late now.

"Yeah, you are. I see. We got stuff to talk about later. As for now, let's keep this quiet, eh? You dunno who's eavesdropping these days." He nodded at Danny and headed back to the bar, giving Aeris a smile before disappearing into the backroom. He didn't seem to want to give them up… but then again, he could be going back to do just that. Furthermore, he still hadn't made the link between Danny, Jim and Tifa. Danny had forgot to mention that. He assumed Tifa would once she calmed down. Danny thought briefly about running, but doubted he would get far if Barrett was calling ALIEN right now… besides, he couldn't leave Tifa again. He'd abandoned her once, and he wouldn't do it again.

"He's nice." Aeris said, making Danny jump. She was standing below him, where Barrett had been, and held a half empty glass of orange juice in her hand. "Even gave me this drink for free."

"That's great." Danny hauled himself off the stage, aiming to find Jim and inform him about what he had revealed to Barrett. Whether Jim would be angry or not he didn't know.

"Where are you going?" She asked, looking a little confused as he dropped his guitar to the floor. He didn't answer and exited the bar. She thought about following, but decided he really didn't want her around, and instead sat down, sipping her orange juice and pondering over what she had witnessed. As she pondered, her mind drifted back to the church, and Reno.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

_This may never start.  
I'll tear us apart.  
Can I be your enemy?  
Losing half a year.  
Waiting for you here  
I'd be your anything._

"Reno! Oh my God!" Aeris smiled and ran over to him, hugging him as he entered through the large wooden church doors. An echo erupted around the church as the doors slammed shut, and Reno hugged Aeris back.

"Hey… hope you don't mind I stopped in." He smirked. "I was just in the neighbourhood…"

"I haven't heard from you in so long!" She said, excitement and a little nervousness in her voice, she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the seats, sitting him down. "Do you want something to eat? Are you hungry? What are you doing here? I thought you were on a mission?"

"Whoa…" Reno interrupted, waving his hand. "Calm down. One question at a time, Aeris, please. I'm not hungry, thank you. I'm on a mission that's located in this sector for once. I thought it'd be nice to stop by and say hello."

She nodded and looked at him, he had changed. His face was far more mature, a little stubble on him. His eyes seemed a little darker, but she tried to ignore that. She hadn't seen him in a while, not since the Turks had been sent on a mission outside of Midgcar a few months previous. He had sent letters, but they had been brief and vague. She often wondered what he was up to, what he could be doing that was so important he couldn't tell her.

"I'm glad you did… how long will this mission last?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a couple of weeks. It's nothing major, like the last one was."

Aeris looked disappointed, turning away from him. "Oh…"

He laughed a little, holding her hand. "Hey, it's alright. I'll be able to come see you a lot more now, our operations are being moved to inside Midgcar. The Government plans to create a new sub-organisation to deal with outside events."

Her face brightened up. "That's great! I missed you so much…" She smiled at him, and he returned it, leaning in to kiss her. They embraced for half a minute before footsteps came from behind them. They broke their kiss to see Jerad behind them, clearly surprised to see Reno. Jerad had become suspicious of Reno ever since he'd joined the Turks, as they were a sub-organisation of ALIEN. It wasn't the Government Jerad particularly hated, it was ALIEN, the group he had been taught by his friends, family and even enemies to despise.

"Reno, what are you doing here?" He asked, his voice toneless.

"Hey, Jerad… I'm here to visit. My activities have been moved to within this sector." Reno gave a slight smile at Jerad, but watched the young man wearily, he knew the temper contained within the scrawny looking child. He was thankful the power Jerad held was yet to be used on him.

"You'd better not bring any trouble into this place… we're happy and peaceful here!" He turned and exited just as quickly as he had entered. Aeris sighed and patted Reno's knee.

"He's always like that…"

"He's hated me ever since I became a Turk." Reno shrugged, standing up.

"That's not true! He just finds it hard…" Aeris said, standing up with him. "Where are you going?"

Reno turned to where Jerad had gone, not speaking for a few moments. Aeris was getting ready to ask him again when he replied. "I have to find somewhere to stay."

"You haven't got anywhere booked?" She said in a slightly amused tone. Reno was never one to be particularly organised, and it seemed his buddies were the same.

"Not yet. I'm sure we can find somewhere." He said, shrugging slightly.

"Well… your buddies can find somewhere. You're staying here." She told him, folding her arms. He cocked his eyebrow at her, shaking his head.

"No, I don't think…"

"It's not open to debate." She smiled sweetly at him.

"What do you--"

"I said, not open to debate. You're staying here with us." She nodded, folding her arms. Her tone suggested she was not to be argued with, and Reno shrugged, not seeing any point in trying.

"I didn't know you had a spare room." He said with a smile, knowing that's not what Aeris had in mind. She laughed and poked his shoulder.

"You won't be sleeping in a spare room. You can come and protect me, hm?"

"You've got Jerad." His voice contained a little amusement, but the mention of the Jerad gave his voice a slightly suspicious tone. It wasn't that he didn't like Jerad, he thought Jerad was a fine young man, very conservative and strict, a seriousness that you didn't find in many boys his age… but he had an aura of danger about him that always put Reno on edge. Something there in the back of his mind that always said there was something about the young man that wasn't right. Reno was sure Jerad was somehow different to everybody else, something big, but he couldn't see quite what.

"Oh yeah, Jerad's great… but I'll prefer having someone close." Aeris hugged him, kissing his cheek. "I really missed you… I'm glad you won't be going away again."

"You bet." Reno winked at her, stretching. It seemed the days ahead would be pretty easy for him. The mission he was sent here for was purely observational, he had to track a few men for a few hours each day for around two weeks, report back to the president and then take a deserved break. Sure, his holiday would only been a couple of weeks, but after the past year or so that seemed like heaven. He could be free, and with the person he most loved in the world. He could go and see his family too. His mother lived in a small house just west of the sector. His father had died when he was a young boy, of a strange disease that had seen his strength disappear and his will to live with it. Reno preferred thinking of his father as the easy-going, laughing man of his youth… not the tired, old and wilted man who could often be heard crying from the pain in his bones at night.

"I'm going to go and see mom. She'll be dying to see me after so long. I've sent her letters and stuff, but it's been a long time since I've been able to see her face-to-face."

"Did you include more in your letters to her than me? I barely know what you're doing nowadays." Aeris said, pouting a little but with a slight smile, to show she wasn't completely serious about it. She understood about his job and the secrecy behind it, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"I'm sorry Aeris, you know how it is." He smiled back at her as if acknowledging the understanding she had. No more was said on the subject. Reno went upstairs and laid his briefcase and small rucksack down onto the floor. The contents were of no real importance, a few documents from ALIEN, payslips, and descriptions of the men he was following, but he'd already memorised them. There was also some spare clothes, food, and drink. He didn't live a particularly glamorous lifestyle, but he got paid plenty. He knew when he retired he was going to be a very rich man. The day passed without much activity, he spent many hours talked with Aeris, and even a little time with Jerad. At first Jerad had little to say to Reno, but eventually he began talking more, a look of distain on his face the whole time, but talking was a start for Reno at least. Jerad loved talking about the times he'd protected Aeris and the church from bandits and thieves that would sneak in at night and try to rob what they could. By now the church had a reputation of being somewhere you did not steal from. Jerad had made sure of that.

"Dinner's ready!" Aeris called. Reno had been sitting on her bed, gazing at the ALIEN documents a little blankly. He was pretty hungry, but found when he got downstairs Jerad had beat him to the punch by quite a way. Another thing about Jerad was that he had a huge appetite, Reno had never seen anything like it. He sat down and accepted the food from Aeris, a large plate of meat, potatoes and peas. Aeris and Jerad didn't have a whole lot of money, but this meal looked delicious. Aeris had learned how to cook well from the nun who had raised them. He ate the whole thing in record time, though not beating Jerad. Aeris stood up and collected both their plates, laughing and feeling extremely happy for the first time in a long time.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

No more of the day was spent practising at the Seventh Heaven Bar. Danny and Jim were yet to return, and it had been a few hours. There was quite a crowd, clearly attracted by the thought of a band playing. Quite a rarity in the slums. The ploy had worked well. Cid and Barrett stood with their arms folded at the bar. Fifteen minutes until show time, and half the band weren't here. Barrett could see Aeris sitting with a young man at a table near the front of the stage. The man in question didn't look particularly happy. He was staring off with a miserable expression on his face. Aeris was sipping some wine, her first glass, and scanning the room, turning to the door every so often. Seems she didn't know where Danny and Jim had disappeared to either.

"They'd better show up." Cid growled, grabbing a glass and cleaning it mechanically.

"If they don't show up they can forget comin' back here, I'll punch their faces in." Barrett replied, still confused about what had happened to Tifa earlier. Tifa had eventually come out of the back and told him not to worry, and that seeing Danny and Jim had been a bit of a shock not only because of the news they had brought with them, but the fact they were good friends from childhood. Barrett was a little annoyed Danny had not mentioned this, but decided it wasn't important. Tifa had been unusually quiet the whole afternoon, she had worn a blank expression for most of that time. It worried both Barrett and Cid a little, and they decided if it continued they should try and help her somehow. Neither knew quite how, but they figured they'd cross that bridge if they came to it. The doors swung open and both bar owners breathed a sigh of relief, it was Danny and Jim. Both were looking sullen, but they were here, and that was what was important.

"Yo, guys!" Barrett called. The two friends wandered over, neither glancing at Aeris or Jerad, probably not even knowing they were there. Tifa had taken a step back from the bar, she was staring at them as if they were the spawn of hell itself. Again, neither seemed to notice. They too were in worlds of their own.

"Surrounded by damn zombies." Barrett mumbled to Cid, who chuckled and shook his head.

"You guys ready for this?" Cid took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it.

"Yeah, ready when you are." Danny said, nodding.

"Let's go get ready." Barrett exited the bar and headed onto stage to begin adjusting his bass guitar. Danny glanced at Tifa briefly, but the look she gave him was one harsh enough to make him turn his head away and walk towards the stage, followed by Jim and Cid.

"Hey, Danny! Good luck!" Aeris called.

"I'll bet he can't even sing." Jerad growled, bending a fork next to him until it snapped.

"Jerad! Don't be such a grump." She replied, smiling as Danny gave her a thumbs up.

"I don't see why you made me come here." Jerad told her, folding his arms.

"Like you had anything else to do." She rolled her eyes, poking him. "Have some fun for once."

"I'll have fun laughing at that idiot when he starts singing." Jerad replied with a growl. He stood up. "I'm going to get something to drink!" He stormed towards the bar and sat down on a stool, looking up and seeing Tifa. He felt himself go numb. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen! He stared at her and forgot what he had even come to the bar for. She herself was pretty zoned out, staring blankly where the stage was. It was like that for a few minutes, until Tifa noticed somebody was sitting there and shook her head, her eyes opening widely.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir! I didn't see you sitting there!"

"It's fine…" Jerad smiled at her. Tifa nodded and walked over to him.

"What can I get you?"

"First… don't call me sir, please." He laughed a little, and she managed a smile, although smiling was the last of things she felt like doing. "I'll have… well, just a beer." He said, gazing at her. She nodded, her grin faded and she looked a little confused as she poured him a beer and handed it to him. He paid her double what it cost and told her to keep the change. She shrugged, thanking him.

"So… you work here often?" Jerad asked, taking a sip of his beer.

Tifa had turned back to the stage, where the guys were tuning up. His voice made her jump a little. "Oh! Oh, yes, I'm an owner…"

"With the other two guys?" He asked.

"That's right… Barrett, Cid and myself run the place."

"You sure are pretty." He said. She turned to him and laughed a little.

"Yeah, I've heard that before when I've told people I own the bar. Do you just want to ask for the free drink now or wait a little while?"

Jerad shook his head vigorously. "No! I'm serious! You are very pretty!"

She could see his sincerity and smiled at that. "Thank you… I'm flattered you think so."

"I sure do." He kept looking at her, taking another sip. She became a little nervous, he was not a bad-looking guy, but he was too young for her, by the looks of it. He had to be around seventeen… besides, she had too much other things to worry about. He began talking again, and she found herself in another conversation with him, wondering how long he was going to sit there and distract her. Her answer came in the form of gunshots from the entrance of the bar. Screams rose from the audience and before people began running in a blind panic, a loud voice had made itself clear over the frantic cries.

"Nobody move! As long as we all co-operate, nobody is going to get hurt!"

It didn't take Danny, Jim, Aeris or Jerad long to recognise whose voice that was. It seemed the Turks had followed them after all, and Tseng once again had them in a rather vulnerable position. Reno and Rude filed behind Tseng, their guns aimed, smirks plastered on both their faces. Rude's smirk was almost a straight face, but for the furthest corners of his mouth twitching up slightly. The band members had hit the ground when the gunshots had rung out, Danny was still on his stomach, staring at Tseng in the doorway. Jim had crawled off the stage, but Danny knew he couldn't do the same, the bar was now dead quiet, other than the heavy breathing of the frightened audience… and maybe his own too. He ducked his head so it was facing the stage, perhaps they wouldn't recognise the top of his head? It was worth a shot. Either that, or they'd shoot him right there and it wouldn't matter anyway.

"Who owns this place?" Tseng's barked, sounding impatient. Barrett slowly walked to the front of the stage, his Bass Guitar still strapped over his shoulder.

"That'd be me… what the hell do you want?"

Tseng smiled and turned to Barrett slowly. "Ah, well, since you asked… we're actually after a couple of rebels, you may know them, they go by the names of Danny Whise and Jim Gildard. We heard they were in this area."

'That's it…' Danny thought, sighing. 'He'll turn us in now. It's over.'

"Don't know what the hell you're talkin' about." Barrett said sternly. Danny breathed a huge sigh of relief, seemed there were some people in the slums that could be trusted. There was then more gunshots, this time coming from the other way, aimed at the Turks. The three men ducked, looking surprised. Tifa lowered her gun briefly, chucking a couple of hand guns to Barrett and Cid from under the bar. Danny scrambled to the back of the stage and rolled off, landing next to Jim, who was peering out from the side, where he could see the Turks. Danny noticed they now wore angry expressions, growling but not moving a muscle. The three owners must have had their guns pointed directly at them.

"Don't do this… you better co-operate… or this bar goes under." Tseng growled, not taking his eyes off Barrett, who had his gun directly pointed at the leader of the Turks' head.

"You busted into our house, we're gonna make you pay for that." Barrett replied evenly. The crowd inside the bar were glaring at the Turks, a look of fury in their eyes. The men and women of sector 7 were not fond of the Turks, and it seemed they were supportive of the offensive action taken by Barrett, Tifa and Cid, who still had the weapons aimed at the three intruders.

"Not likely." Reno replied, as Rude dug a small device out of his pocket and threw it into the crowd, who threw up their hands, screaming as the device exploded, but only to release a smokescreen that covered the entire bar.

"Dammit, I can't see a thing!" Barrett yelled over the panicked cries of the crowd.

"We've got to do something! The Turks will find their way through the smoke and take them out!" Jim said. He and Danny were still crouched behind the stage. Danny nodded, climbing onto the stage and feeling around. He touched a large arm and got a whack in the head, stumbling back; he held his head and groaned.

"Barrett, it's me!"

"Oh, sorry." Came the gruff reply. Danny assumed he wasn't bleeding or seriously hurt, and continued forward, careful to make sure he didn't fall off the edge of the stage. The smoke was still extremely heavy and he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He knew Barrett had been near the centre of the stage, so he moved in that direction, brushing past Barrett, who nearly struck him again, and eventually finding what he was after, the microphone. He grabbed it and tapped it, sure enough, it was on.

"Don't let the Turks get what they want!" He yelled into the microphone. "They can't come in our sector and do this to us! Beat them back! Get them out of this bar and the hell out of our sector! The Turks are not welcome here!"

He hoped this would motivate the crowd to begin fighting back against the Turks, and it seemed to do so. Soon enough he heard scuffles in front of him, and what sounded like the voice of Tseng yelling for a retreat. Sure enough, as the smoke became less dense he could make out bodies streaming towards and out of the bar entrance. He leapt off the stage and pushed past the crowd to get outside, the crowd stood in front of the bar, fists raised and screaming obscenities at the Turks. The ALIEN spies stood further back, all three had some bruises but seemingly no serious injuries. They all looked shocked, Rude's black glasses were cracked, but he still wore them. He had a scowl on his normally stony face. Reno and Tseng looked far more surprised than angry. Reno was clutching his arm. They'd managed to retain their guns, and held them at the crowd. It was the only thing keeping the raging mass of incensed people at bay.

"We can't shoot them." Reno said quietly. "If news got to other sectors they'd revolt for sure, especially if they hear of an uprising being the cause."

"We'll retreat for now… but this is far from over!" Tseng replied with a smirk and with a contemptuous look at the crowd he took off to the exit of sector 7, followed by his comrades. The crowd cheered and yelled many phrases which were aimed to ensure they didn't come back any time soon. Danny turned around, seeing the others behind him, he wandered back to them.

"They've gone, for now."

"I didn't expect that." Jim said, patting Danny's shoulder. "Good thinking, though."

"These people need something to fight for. They'll take mostly any order given to them, if they think it's just." Cid folded his arms, taking out a cigarette. "Yep, that did the trick alright. I think we're out of business, though." He lit it up and puffed.

"Oh yeah… it's over." Said Barrett with a shake of his head.

"I'm sorry…" Danny sighed, looking at Barrett and Cid, but daring not to look at Tifa. "It's our fault."

"Yeah, you're right, it is!" Tifa walked up to Danny and planted her finger on his chest, staring at him with tears in her eyes. "It isn't bad enough you ruined my life once, now you're coming to do it again!"

"I didn't ruin your life…" He held his hands up, backing away.

"I hate you!" She screamed and ran back into the bar. He stood there with a dejected look on his face, he hadn't expected her to be happy with him, but he had also not expected her to be so angry. Had she really been that upset with him?

"Hey… don't worry 'bout it." Barrett put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "We weren't doin' great financially anyway. Doubt we woulda lasted another year."

"What I would like to know…" Cid stepped forward, curiosity etched onto his face. "Is why they're after you... and what you're doing here."


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

A sharp knock interrupted the President's thoughts. He sat forward in his chair and swivelled to face the door of his office.

"Enter." He barked, a little unhappy that his train of thought had been derailed. He wouldn't take it out on his assistant, no, he'd learned that it was pointless to anger those closest to you without reason. He could be strict when the need for it was there, but otherwise he generally preferred to remain calm. The metallic door slid open, and his young assistant stepped inside. The boy was barely eighteen, and always had a nervous look about him. His hair was often scruffy and uncombed, his clothes standard ALIEN uniform. His eyes darted about the President's office, never making eye contact with Rufus.

"Well, what is it?" Rufus snapped, resting his elbows on the table and looking at the young man uninterestedly.

"Oh! Y-Yes, sir." The young man bowed slightly and looked at some of the papers in his hands. "The Turks report has arrived."

"Oh, I see." Rufus became slightly more interested. "How are they doing?"

"The report says that they are closing in on the suspected rebels and are confident of capturing them within the next few days."

"Excellent news." Rufus brushed his hair back and stretched. "Oh, that reminds me. Do we have any news of that other man, the silver-haired one, who also entered Midgcar after killing two of our guards?"

"No, sir." The boy said quietly, standing straight. "We have doubled the guards at the outposts as requested, but as of yet there have been no other sightings of this man in any sector above or below the plate."

"Ah…" Rufus turned his chair around so he was looking out of the large window at the back of his office. The sun was setting, and had practically disappeared below the horizon, casting a dark yellow glow upon the grasslands surrounding Midgcar. Sometimes Rufus felt a little sorry for the people living in the slums, they never got to see the sun, nor may they ever. "That's not good. He's still in our city somewhere, then. He and those rebels are a threat."

"With all due respect sir, they are part of a minority. I don't think they're anything to worry about." The young man said this slowly, with no confidence in his voice. Rufus did not turn to face him, but a small smile was on his face. He was a little surprised his young assistant had offered an opinion. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

"That's where you're wrong." Rufus stood, moving to the window and gazing at the horizon. "Whilst it would appear these nuisances are not a threat to our mighty empire, they could in fact be a great problem. The people did not elect us to control them, because it was not their choice they are controlled purely by fear. This is a fine way of controlling the minds of the population, until bugs begin to infest your system. When the largest city in the world is invaded by a few rebels from a small colony up north and a mystery man from God-knows-where with no trouble at all, what message does that send? I'll tell you… it tells the people that we are not as strong as they think. It plants a seed of rebellion and distrust inside them, it allows them to believe that perhaps they can escape the system, perhaps they can rise up and take us down. If we are not seen to act quickly to snuff out these rogue flames, a worldwide blaze could be started. We could face a global rebellion, one which would seal our fate and leave us no hope of gaining back power. Once power is lost, it's twice as hard to regain. Yes, we're strong, we're capable of ruling the world… but everybody has to believe this. I hope you understand… these rebels are not something we can just forget about. We will crush them." Rufus turned to his assistant with a smug grin on his face. The young assistant mumbled a few words of agreement and apology, his eyes diverted from the stare of his leader.

"You may leave." Said Rufus, motioning to the door.

"Yes, sir!" The assistant bowed again and shuffled out of the room, gulping as the door to the office closed

"Don't let me down, Tseng… I'll have your head if you fail me." Rufus said to himself quietly, laughing a little before sitting down and returning back to his thoughts. He had a ton of paperwork to do, but that could wait. If things weren't thought over carefully, he could find himself with nothing but disaster in front of him… and he'd worked far too hard to let everything fall apart now. He would not be undone by anyone, from rogue colonists to the mighty Sephiroth himself. Rufus found himself wondering what his father would do.


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"It's been such a nice day." Aeris said with a sigh of happiness. She pushed open the church doors and stepped inside with Reno. Their footsteps echoed loudly, and some dust rose from the floor. The church was usually a rather uneventful and morbid place, but Aeris found the colours seemed more vibrant now. There seemed to be an air of normality back since Reno had returned. It'd been a few days now, and they had spent most of their time together. Mostly doing the usual activities such as shopping, cleaning or cooking. Reno wanted to be with her and talk to her during all of these things and never appeared to be bored. She often told him if he wished to leave for a little while and go have some fun he could, but he refused every time. They had, however, decided that tomorrow they would venture to Wall market to have some fun.

There was always plenty to do there. There were usually stalls set up all along the strip of land a little way from Sector 7. Sector 6 wasn't a particularly large place, and Wall Market's stretch of land took up a large chunk of it. When you first entered the market there was a hotel, a sushi bar, and to the far right a rather unsavoury club that Aeris would never go anywhere near. There were bars, clothes shops, music stores and even weapons stores further up, and at the very top lied the Don's mansion.

Don Corneo was a big gun at wall Market, maybe the most important person in the place. He essentially ran the market and funded it largely. He was a man who had only gotten rich from inheriting his parent's hard-earned money. He had used this by funding the Market, and paying men to serve him and women to come to bed with him. All in all, the Don lived the complete bachelor's life and wasn't going to be giving it up any time soon.

"Wall Market tomorrow. It's about time you had some rest from all this working." Reno said jokingly, nudging her. She smiled back at him and moved over to the kitchen area to begin getting dinner ready. It was past six o'clock and she assumed Jerad would be hungry by this point. He usually began asking for food at around five… so she thought he'd be waiting and in an extremely bad mood when they arrived, but she was yet to see him. He usually greeted her when she got home regardless of whether he was hungry or not.

"Reno, call Jerad for me will you?" She asked, reaching down to gather some pots and pans. Reno walked over to the stairs and called Jerad, but received no reply.

"He's not here, it seems." He told her, walking back over and sitting down on a slab of stone coming out of the wall. He stretched and laid back on it, staring up at the dark ceiling and beginning to daydream. He thought of how his life here might turn out, and how he may actually begin to enjoy life a bit more than recently. True, he was happy being a Turk and was rapidly adjusting to the requirements of the job, but he still felt a certain void inside that threatened to engulf him without Aeris there. The months he'd spent away from her had been some of the hardest of his life. He wasn't sure he could go through that again. Yet, he knew it was likely one day the job would require him to leave her again, as they moved their operations to a sector on the other side of the city, or even to a location outside Midgcar. They'd been told all operations had been moved inside Midgcar for the time being, but that certainly didn't mean it would be that way permanently.

"I'm worried." Aeris walked over to the stairs and turned to Reno. "I'll be back in a second."

"Alright." He said, already half-asleep. She made her way up the stairs and knocked quietly on Jerad's door. There was no answer. She turned the doorknob, it was unlocked. She hesitantly opened the door and peered inside.

"Jerad? Her voice was soft, she didn't want to startle him, yet it appeared there was nobody in the room. The curtains were drawn shut, and it was almost pitch black inside. Aeris stumbled over the mess of clothes and other indiscernible objects, reaching over Jerad's bed and pulling the curtains open. Light flooded into the room and made her blink and cover her eyes for a few seconds. When she took another look around, she gasped. The objects on the floor were not toys, or books, or anything similar to that. They were guns, swords and knives. Jerad was seemingly starting a weapon collection of some sort, and the revelation scared her. Jerad never collected things unless he planned to do something with them. The bed was unmade and no attempt had been made to tidy it. Jerad was certainly no longer in the church, but now Aeris wondered just where he was… and what he had taken out with him. She descended back down the stairs and walked over to Reno, whose eyes were closed, a slight smile was on his face. She didn't want to wake him from whatever light sleep he had dozed off into, but maybe he knew more about this kind of behaviour than she.

"Reno?" She shook his shoulder gently, one of his eyes opened lazily and he gazed at her.

"Yeah?"

"Jerad's gone… he's not here."

"So?" Reno sat up, yawning. "I'm sure he'll be back soon. He can take care of himself."

"I know that… but… come with me." She took his hand as he got up, looking confused. She took him over to the stairs and started ascending.

"Hey… where are we going?" Reno asked with a grin.

"To his room…" Aeris looked back at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course." He laughed nervously, but she paid no heed and continued pulling him up the stairs and into Jerad's room. Reno looked around at the various weaponry scattered on the floor and scratched his head. "Wow… quite a collection he's got, huh?"

"I didn't know he had these…" Aeris looked at him worriedly, picking up a sword from the ground. It was a large blade, and extremely sharp. The ones sold in shops were nearly always blunt, and the designs were far less intricate than this one. Reno picked up a gun next to his foot, examining it closely.

"How could he have gotten this? It's an ALIEN prototype… not even released yet to their own soldiers!"

"How do you know about it?" Aeris asked, putting down the sword and looking fearfully at the gun in his hand.

"I'm a Turk, this kind of information comes to me naturally." Reno carefully placed the gun on a desk to the side of him and swept his vision over the other weapons. There were plenty of weapons that seemed impossible for a boy Jerad's age to get his hands on. Many of the weapons were used by ALIEN Guards and other, even high-ranking security personnel. Reno was suddenly no longer comfortable or relaxed. His eyes had taken a darker look and a scowl was beginning to come onto his face. Aeris squeezed his hand tighter.

"Reno… I'm scared."

"So am I. Let's hope Jerad has a good explanation for us when he returns." Reno let go of Aeris's hand and exited the room hastily, leaving Aeris alone, confused, and scared.


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Okay, so, get on with it." Cid pulled up a chair for himself and sat down in front of the stage. Danny and Jim were both perched on the edge of the stage, Danny had his guitar back in his grasp and was strumming it nervously. Jim sat with a slightly nervous look on his face, but he had a smile as well, which made them wonder what he really thought of the whole situation. Danny turned to Jim and shrugged. He looked over to Aeris and Jerad, who were looking at him just as intently. Though he had told Aeris some things about his past, he had not mentioned a thing to Jerad.

"You want me to start from the beginning? Alright…" Danny dared a glance at Tifa, who was not looking at him; she had her head purposefully turned away from both himself and Jim. Though he was sure she was carefully listening to every word.

"That's right." Barrett nodded and moved his stool closer to the front of the stage, seemingly not wanting to miss a word either. Tifa was sitting further behind them and made no attempt to move forward. Aeris and Jerad were to the side of the stage, close enough to hear without difficulty. Danny put down his guitar and cleared his throat.

"Okay… well, it started with the battle of Kalm…" Danny slowly went through the events that had happened since Kalm. He described the trip to Midgcar, and through the old shop owner their discovery of Jim's parents' possible survival. He looked over at Tifa whilst explaining this; her face was a mask of ice. He continued, detailing the slaying of the Guards, their subsequent capture and second near-death experience. Danny went on to explain that Aeris and Jerad had taken them in, and that eventually the Turks had shown up to dispose of them. He told for the first time the story of how he and Jim had been saved by a silver-haired warrior called Sephiroth. The mention of this name induced gasps from all over the room. Danny continued with the journey's details regardless, telling of their trip through the tunnel in the wall, and their emergence in this sector. When he had finished, everybody looked shell-shocked. He looked a little confused and shrugged. "So, that's pretty much it. I guess the Turks will redouble their efforts now we've escaped twice, and they will assume we have a connection with Sephiroth. Our basic plan so far is to get to the ALIEN headquarters… if we somehow accomplish that… we shall probably end our lives causing as much damage as possible. If you're going to report us to the police… we won't stop you."

Cid and Barrett both laughed, causing Danny and Jim to look at each other oddly. The two men continued laughing for quite a while until they calmed down and Barrett waved his hand.

"Turn ya in to them? Never. You're one of us. We got rebel blood flowin' in our veins too, just ain't got as much guts as you. You guys are damn crazy! Damn… Sephiroth!" Barrett shook his head.

"I see…" Danny nodded. "Good. We won't be a burden to you much longer… and we're going to have to call it quits on the band thing… sorry about that."

"Hey man, it's cool. We're gonna have to call it quits on the bar now I guess." Barrett shrugged, not looking very upset about it. Cid lit up a cigarette and leaned back on his stool.

"Had some good times here… but we've gotta follow the path we want now. We gotta have some guts ourselves."

"Well you won't learn anything from THESE TWO!" Tifa yelled, her first words since she had screamed at Danny outside the bar. She still looked on the verge of tears but this time she was facing Danny with a face full of rage. Danny tried to smile at her but could barely find the energy to. He seemed almost exhausted by Tifa's constant outbursts, and was in fact coming to expect them. They didn't have much effect on him anymore.

"Count us in!" Cid grinned, holding his hand out to Danny, who looked a little surprised.

"You wanna come with us too?" He asked, looking at Jim and then at Tifa, who was now staring a hole through Cid.

"No we don't!" She yelled, getting over and smacking Cid's hand away from Danny. "You moron! If these idiots want to go and get themselves killed then they can! But we are not going to do something so stupid!"

"It ain't stupid!" Barrett replied, folding his arms. "Cid's got the right idea. I say we go for it."

"No! No! No!" Tifa growled and slammed her foot down on Cid's. Cid jumped up, grabbing his foot and howling in pain. "I have to listen to you idiots overrule me half the time! Not this time! We're not going off to die!"

"Jeez Tifa!" Cid sat back down, rubbing his foot and glaring at her. "You ain't my mother. If I wanna go off and do my own thing I damn well will. You can stay here if you want! But just 'cause you got problems with this guy for whatever reason, it don't mean we got any problems with him!"

"For whatever reason!? You don't know what he's done to me!"

"I've done nothing _to _you!" Danny replied, sighing. "You just mistook…"

"Mistook!? I did not mistake anything!" He walked over to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him off the stage so that he was standing right in front of her. He yanked his arm back and tried to look disgruntled, but he felt more embarrassed, why did she always have to make a scene like this? "You told me you'd support me through anything! You told me you understood me! You said you'd protect me if I got in trouble!"

"Yeah, well, that was then… and I was younger… things have changed. Besides, I had no idea you were going to run off like that."

"Sounds like you two were pretty… close." Aeris said, looking at them both with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah, damn Danny, you said you knew her but you didn't say you guys were, y'know, _that _close." Barrett added.

"We weren't!" Danny protested.

"How can you..?" Tifa looked a little surprised then growled. "Oh, I shouldn't expect anything less from you! As far as you're concerned you don't care for anybody and never have, right?"

"Right." Aeris cut in. Danny looked sideways at her, she smiled sweetly at him. "Remember Danny? No close past relationships."

"That's what he told you, is it?" Tifa asked, her anger a dangerous undertone to a calm voice.

"Yes. He didn't even mention you." Aeris replied with a shrug. She stood up and walked over to Tifa. "Listen… these guys don't really… understand things like we do. How about we go and have a chat, and you can talk with me? I understand how frustrated you're feeling."

Tifa looked at her for a few moments and eventually nodded. "I need someone to talk to. Thank you."

"What don't we understand?" Cid grumbled, stubbing out his cigarette.

"Everything!" Tifa shot back at him. She gave another death glance to Danny, then turned to Jim. "Well Jim, you did disappoint me by following this moron's lead… but… it's still nice to see you. We'll find your family, I'm sure. Come with me, Aeris. We can talk in the staff room for a little while. These idiots will probably drink themselves to sleep eventually anyway!" She turned to the bar and made her way to the door behind it. Aeris looked at Danny and smiled again. He looked confused and somewhat annoyed, but that seemed to make her grin wider.

"See you boys later." She said, before following Tifa to the bar.

"Why did she do that?" He said with a shake of his head.

"Because you mistreat everyone you come across!" Jerad yelled, standing up and shoving Danny. He stumbled back and glared at Jerad. The young man was beginning to push him to his limit. "I can't stand you any more!" Jerad rushed forward, aiming a well-placed punch at Danny's cheek. He fell down to the floor this time, sitting up and holding his face.

"What the hell?" Barrett and Cid were now up off their chairs and looking at each other. Jim leapt off stage and ran towards Jerad.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing Jerad?"

"Jerad!" Aeris's exasperated voice made the young man cringe. He looked back to see Aeris storming towards him. Tifa stood behind the bar, watching with an amused curiosity. "Stop it!"

"No, he deserves-" Before Jerad could finish his sentence he had received a fist to his own face and had been sent sprawling to the floor. Danny was now on his feet. His eyes were wide and he had a scowl on his face not even Jim had seen the likes of before. He almost looked like an animal.

"Danny, no!" Aeris cried, trying to hold him back. "Don't!"

"Ashbe' colashko'fru'telmo' mo'hibe'!" Danny replied, earning completely mystified looks from almost everyone. Aeris's face however had gone white, and she had frozen in her tracks. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Danny and slowly backed away from him.

"W-what?"

"Esko'zabe' !" He yelled and shoved her out the way, aiming another punch at Jerad, but this time getting it blocked. Jerad connected with a swift kick to Danny's chest. The force of the kick propelled Danny to the bar entrance, where he landed and gasped, as if he'd just woken up. Groggily, he sat up and looked around.

"What the…?"

"Danny Whise… we know, now. We know." Jerad smirked, turning to Aeris and nodding. "We know who you are! Tomorrow… we fight. If I win, you leave us alone. You leave Midgcar. If you win… I shall leave you alone. How does that sound?"

"How can I trust your word?" Danny slowly stood up, not understanding what Jerad had meant or why his friends were looking at him oddly, but assuming the fight was the cause.

"I never break my word... are you afraid of me?" Jerad gave a confident chuckle which infuriated Danny. He felt another strange urge within him, a primal fury that scared him. He suppressed it as best he could and stared straight at Jerad, smiling as well.

"No way. You're on."

"What? No!" Aeris shook her head and pleaded with the both of them, but neither were prepared to back down, for pride more than anything. Eventually Aeris gave up, cursing the nature of men and disappearing to the staff room with Tifa, looking rather upset. Jerad mumbled something incoherent and moved towards the exit of the bar. By now Danny was on his feet, and ready to defend himself should Jerad attack again. Instead, Jerad turned to him and smiled, whispering something Danny did not understand.

"Hid Gogeko'car." With that, the young man smugly turned and left the bar. Danny shook his head and sat down. Neither Jim, Barrett, nor Cid had said a word since the scuffle. Danny saw them looking at him peculiarly again and shrugged.

"What's the matter?"

The three men looked at each other warily, eventually Barrett and Cid turned to Jim, deciding as he was closest to Danny he should be the one to question the events that had just occurred. He did so with a somewhat uncomfortable look on his face.

"What the hell were you saying, Danny?"

"Huh? Saying? When?" Danny raised his eyebrow.

"When you hit Jerad… and Aeris was trying to stop you… what were you saying?"

"Sure as hell weren't English." Barrett said with a frown.

Danny shook his head. "I didn't hit Jerad!" This comment earned him even more sceptical looks. He shuffled in his chair uncomfortably and shrugged. "I honestly only remember him hitting me… and then getting up near the doorway."

"That… is messed up." Cid said, finding another cigarette and lighting it.

"Damn, man." Barrett looked at Danny and grinned a little. "You and Jerad, eh? Should be good."

"Heh…" Danny looked at Jim, who wore the same expression of anxiety he now felt inside. Not only was he fighting Jerad, a fighter he knew was extremely skilled, but he was apparently also losing his mind. Things were not looking up.


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The wooden, somewhat rotting door of the run-down weapons shop slammed open. It cracked, yet held strong. The door had been there for a number of years and simply refused to fall into bad enough shape to be replaced. Tseng stormed inside the shop, Reno and Rude behind him. The shop counter was protected by a large mesh frame that had a small rectangular piece of it cut out on level with the counter edge, so that money could be passed through. The weapons themselves were then gathered by the shopkeeper and put into a small room to the left of the counter, he would then unlock the door to that room and lock the door from his side, so that the customer could collect the weapons. To some people this may seem slightly paranoid, but the shop owner had lost a leg a few years previously as a young man jumped over the counter and tried to steal the weapons stock behind him. He had succeeded in getting a few small guns, but only after shooting the shop owner in the leg numerous times, rendering it shattered and useless. The Sector Six hospital were unable to operate due to lack of equipment and so instead simply amputated the leg and offered the shop owner a replacement artificial limb. He had never been the same person again.

"You have some explaining to do, old man!" Tseng grabbed the mesh with both his hands and stared in anger at the composed shopkeeper.

"What about?" He asked calmly, a flicker of amusement on his face.

"Your plan failed. You told us that it would work! You said the people were too scared to resist!" Tseng growled, his teeth clenched, the embarrassment of being run out of sector seven fuelling his rage.

"I'm sorry to hear that." The shopkeeper could offer no explanation to this failure. If he, on one hand, told the Turks it was his own fault, and that his plan was flawed, they would make sure he suffered for it. On the other hand, if he told them it was their own fault, that'd be even worse. Instead he kept his features composed and gave a slight shrug to indicate his confusion. Hopefully they would simply see him as a senile and stupid old man. "I honestly thought it was foolproof."

"Obviously not!" Tseng growled back at him. He let go of the mesh, brushing himself off a little. Some dirt had settled on his uniform from the fighting that had broken out in sector 7. In reality, he could have easily disposed of many of those who assailed him, but he could not kill a law-abiding citizen without the President's permission. To do so would cost him more than he dared to think of. He was pleased to see the small flower he had picked up in the church was still attached to his uniform. "You're lucky, old man. You won't get any blame for this… as furious as I am, I can't blame you. We should not have relied on such an old and clearly senile-brained old man to formulate our plan."

The shopkeeper nodded with a small smile. He didn't feel insulted by Tseng's words, rather more relieved, and glad he had kept his mouth shut. He turned his back to the Turks and went back to the task of rearranging the shelves for the upcoming rifle convention being held in the shady Faintheart Inn. He knew the kinds of promiscuous activities that went on in such places and dispised the place because of it, but there was no where else in Sector 6 that the convention would be held, and the Governing Party of Sector 6 knew that the convention would generate a greater cash flow than would normally be seen in the barron months leading up to ALIEN Appreciation Week. He could still remember when that week had been home to what the older generation had called Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Not many remembered such things. The Government before ALIEN had eradicated Christmas over sixty years ago due to the sharp decline in Religious Belief and the growth of technology. There were not enough religious zealots to even form a protest against the action and it was widely accepted, and a relief that money could be saved during the winter months instead of splashing out on a holiday that wasn't generally believed in anymore.

"We can't report back to the President like this." Reno said grumpily, brushing his suit off in a similar fashion to Tseng, and cringing slightly when he felt Aeris's picture had been slightly bent.

"This never happened." Tseng replied "Nobody will inform Rufus of this… the Sector Seven residents are far too scared and simple-minded to even contemplate making contact with the Government. There are no monitoring devices near that bar, luckily, and the Guard outpost is stationed at such a point that they wouldn't be able to view the event."

"What about him?" Reno said quietly, motioning to the shopkeeper.

"He knows what will happen if he so much as says one word about any of this." Tseng said this loud enough so the shopkeeper could undoubtedly hear. The old man didn't stir from what he was doing for a second, but he heard.

"They'll move out of that sector now. They'll come here." Rude said, more as a statement than a fact. Reno and Tseng turned to him, questioning glances that bore a little surprise that he had spoken. "Well, they aren't going to go back the way they came. There is no way back for them. The only route they can come through is the route we have taken. They'll move quickly, if they're smart, before we have a chance to figure this out and set up a barricade. Of course, Sector Six is a dead-end to anyone with no knowledge of the systems of the slums. My guess is they're heading for the wire to the back of this shop, which can be climbed up and which leads directly to the upper plate… dangerously close to ALIEN headquarters."

Tseng and Reno stood still for a second, both surprised and impressed at Rude's thinking and calculation. Tseng nodded slowly. "Yes, yes you're right, of course. Can we get men here quickly enough to outnumber them?"

"No. It'd take at least an hour, maybe two, to authorise access to that amount of guards." Reno said, thinking of an alternative whilst speaking. He couldn't come up with anything.

"Well then… let's get the Guards from the outpost. We will gather around the wire." Tseng made to exit the weapons shop.

"Wait!" Reno called, shrugging. "Why not just wait at the Sector Six entrance?"

"They could find another way… I wouldn't put it past them. But their chief goal is the wire, therefore we shall block that way. If they don't turn up… we'll assign Guards to stand watch there and search them out ourselves." Tseng nodded, and briskly exited the weapons shop. Rude followed, and a weary Reno was the last to depart, leaving the old shopkeeper in some peace.


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

_Warning: Big chapter._

_Welcome back, to the days of thunder!_

_Welcome back, to the days where you were born!_

_Welcome back, to break the spell you're under…___

_Welcome back, to the days of thunder!_

_Welcome back, to the days where you were born!_

_Welcome back, to raise again your honour…___

---

He hadn't got much sleep at all. He had never slept much, and as he had gotten older he had found that habit to stay with him. In a way he was glad for it, as he thought he would be rather annoyed at sleeping most of the day away. On the other hand, he often wished he could sleep for an extra hour. Yet no matter how tired he was, no matter how much his joints ached and his eyes burned at the sight of the morning sun, once he was up, he was not going back to sleep again. He hated mornings, he was not a morning person, yet he had to endure them every day. Danny sat on the step of the Seventh Heaven bar and stared blankly at the eastern wall of sector 7. Today they were planning to leave the Sector. After the incident with the Turks, they had little chance. It was likely the Turks would be waiting for them once they reached Sector 6… but they would deal with that problem when they had to. For now, Danny was content to sit in silence and become lost in his thoughts of what may be, and what may never be.

"You're up early." Aeris said, stepping outside and sitting next to him. Her voice was subdued. He knew what she was thinking about… so was he.

"I always am." Danny replied neutrally, with a slight shrug. "I miss seeing the sun rise. I used to watch it often in Kalm."

"From the church… I thought you would hate getting up early." Aeris said with a chuckle.

"I do." Shaking his head, Danny leant back and glanced at the artificial lighting that always shone on sector 7. One of the lights was burning out, extremely dim. The others were buzzing rhythmically and dimming briefly every so often only to come back seemingly twice as bright, almost their own act of defiance. One day they too would fade out.

"Oh…" Aeris bit her lip, clearly wanting to ask Danny about whether anything new had developed with Jerad but afraid he would react angrily. She knew too little about him to judge what he would do, and she was especially nervous after the events of the previous night.

"You're worried about Jerad." His voice was toneless.

"No… I'm worried about you." She said with a sigh. "I know Jerad's strengths... I don't know yours. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Sometimes… you don't have a choice." Danny stood up, stretching. "In life obstacles are put in your way. You either get past them, or you run from them. If I don't fight Jerad I'll never get anywhere. If he wants to fight me then so be it. I'll give him my all, and if it's not enough, at least I'll have tried."

"This is just for your stupid pride!" Aeris stood up, glaring at him. "Who cares about pride! You don't have to grovel on your knees to him! Just refuse to fight! I'll make sure he doesn't touch you!"

"Aeris… it's not just pride… it's something else. I don't think I can make you understand. Something unique, part of my personality, you could say. I will not back down." He rested his hand on her shoulder and tried a smile. She scowled at him in return and stormed into the bar. Once again he stood alone outside. He sat back down on the step and, as he preferred, was left alone with his thoughts once more.

Much of the day passed without incident. Danny had a few drinks from the bar in the morning, after Aeris had left without a glance towards him, possibly the last drinks ever served at Seventh Heaven, and spent most of the day wandering rather aimlessly, lost in his thoughts. He hadn't delved as deep into his mind ever before, yet nothing was being unearthed that he thought could explain what was happening to him. His fight was Jerad was firmly at the back of his mind, if it had to happen, then so be it. Life would go on one way or the other. He saw Jim as he walked around the sector speaking with various women, seemingly flirting with them. That was Jim, alright. Even when they were in one of the most dangerous situations of their lives, he still found time to flirt. He found it quite odd that Jim had never tried it on with Tifa, but then again, she was pretty intimidating. It would take a brave man, he imagined, to try and romance her. Danny found himself wondering if Tifa had been in any relationships since she had left five years ago. It was likely she had found somebody, met with enough people, to conceivably have a relationship deeper than friendship. The thought of it didn't make him jealous, exactly, but slightly uneasy that he wasn't there… just to watch over her in case something went wrong. On the other hand, she was perfectly capable of handling herself five years ago… he assumed so she would be now. Perhaps more so.

He noticed as he walked past the bar for the sixth or seventh time, he'd started to lose count, that there were sale signs on the door. Twenty per cent off beer, spirits and wine. Ten per cent off food. He noticed another sign on the door which announced all ages were welcome. Peering inside, Danny noticed quite a few teenage boys who certainly looked to be under nineteen, which was the age limit in Midgcar. Now that they were fighting the very organisation that made the rules, he supposed it was pointless adhering to any of them anymore. Barrett and Cid needed to make as much money as possible and sell as much stock as possible before they left. Some of the stock would be packed and taken with them, at least to last them until they got to the ALIEN building. From there, it was unlikely they would need anything else but an extreme amount of luck.

Aeris had been absent ever since she had left the bar. Danny did not dare try to find her, he had already experienced far too much female anger for his liking. He decided he would rather just walk another circle around the sector. It took him about forty minutes to go in a full circle, and this would be around the eighth time he had done it. He didn't feel tired, nor did his legs ache. The only craving he had was for food, he was, as usual, hungry as hell. He decided he would grab something to eat from the bar once he had completed this walk. He had expected to encounter Jerad at some point during the day, but the young man had been as absent as his sister. Danny had ventured over to the hideout at one point, he was not there. Danny half-expected the Turks to come charging into the sector at any second with the ALIEN army behind them. His rational mind said this would be far to extreme for a few rebellious citizens. The more unorthodox part of his mind reminded him these were the same people that slaughtered thousands who refused to agree with them. How can you predict what such ruthless people will do? His eighth walk around seemed to last a very short time, before he knew it, he was back at the bar. However, this time things were different. Jerad stood outside the bar, arms crossed, a slight grin on his face as he saw Danny approaching. It was time.

"I was beginning to think you'd done the smart thing and ran for your life." Jerad said contemptuously. Danny gave a shrug, standing a few feet away from him.

"I don't run from people I don't fear."

"Oh, you'll fear me soon enough." Jerad crackled his knuckles, stretching and preparing to fight. Danny shook his head and thought about drawing his sword, but that probably wasn't the kind of fight Jerad had in mind. He had at least made it sound like he wanted Danny to walk away, albeit in shame. Barrett and Cid had quickly emptied the bar after Jerad had shown up and closed it, temporarily at least, until the fight was over. They both stood on the steps leading up to the bar, watching both fighters curiously. Jim too had appeared and was standing next to Barrett and Cid, looking far more concerned than the other two, who in contrast looked like they were prepared to see a good fight. Tifa and Aeris were nowhere to be seen.

"Let's just get this stupid thing over with." Danny took a fighting stance he had learnt in the army, a technique he couldn't remember, (or pronounce, if he recalled correctly) the name of, but knew the basic moves behind it. He figured in hand-to-hand combat this was his best option. He heard the bar door open, briefly looking over he saw Tifa and Aeris now standing and watching with the others. Neither had any readable expression on their faces.

"Ready?" Jerad smiled, taking a stance of his own. Danny nodded, and as Jerad leapt forward, he knew he was in for the fight of his life. Jerad's first attempt at a punch was blocked by danny but his second landed directly underneath his ribs, driving the wind out of Danny. Stumbling backwards, Danny tried to control his breathing but before he could look to see where Jerad was he had been kicked in the face and sent sprawling along the floor. He was up on his feet relatively quickly, but felt a rain of blows ranging from his head down to his kneecaps and shins pummel him. He lost his balance, falling backwards only to be kicked square in the gut by Jerad and instead of falling onto his back he fell to his knees, breathing heavily and feeling his own blood dripping from his forehead down across his face. His vision had become disjointed and fuzzy. The dizziness he was experiencing made it hard for him to concentrate. He felt a strong hand take grip around his neck and squeeze, pulling him up off the ground and tossing him a few feet towards the bar. Danny rolled across the cold concrete floor of sector seven and lay there for a few seconds, feeling battered and in a lot of pain. His body instinctively told him to get up and once again, though struggling immensely, he did so. Wobbling slightly as he regained vertical status, he glared at Jerad, remarkably neither of his eyes had sustained any damage. The blood dripping down them however made them appear to be cut.

"Well, now we're done warming up. Let's start for real." Jerad gave a slight, cruel laugh. Danny took the same fighting stance before and prepared to defend. Jerad ran at him and performed as uppercut that broke right through Danny's arms and connected with his chin with plenty of force. Danny flew backwards and landed hard on his back, gasping and groaning from the pain that shot up his spine as he landed on the solid, unforgiving ground. He tried to move a little but his spine, through waves of agonizing pain, forced him to stay where he was. Desperately, he used his arms to push himself up into a sitting position. He saw Jerad again running towards him, his face contorted in a sick kind of pleasure from inflicting pain. Jerad swiped at Danny's face with his hand, causing another explosion of pain inside Danny's head as he rolled back a few metres with another gash on his cheek from which more blood flowed. Danny pushed himself up into the same position, his breathing had become ragged, his ribs, spine and legs were now throbbing with pure pain. His arms less so. His head felt groggy and his sight was distorted. He no longer saw one Jerad but three running towards him. As Jerad came closer, there was a sudden change from within him. It was something primitive, something foreign that he felt was in some unexplainable way a part of him, rising up, flowing into his blood as it had done the night before, trying to take him over, to control his mind. The barbaric fury he dreaded overwhelmed him, and with a fearful scream he let go of his defence and allowed it to engulf him.

Jerad stopped running and held his arms up to his face as an invisible force pushed him back, it seemed to be emanating from his opponent, who was shrouded in an odd glow of light. Jerad gasped as his feet left the ground and he flew backwards, landing at least twenty metres away, square on his shoulders. He rolled onto his hands and knees, he was in some pain but he was confident nothing was broken. He took another look up and saw Danny was now on his feet. His head was facing downwards, as if he didn't have the power in his neck to hold it up. His right leg appeared to be about to buckle, as he jerked to one side as his leg began to collapse, then straightened up again, this happened a few times before Jerad slowly got to his feet as well. He looked over at the others. They stood on the steps of the bar with shocked looks on their faces, Aeris had a mixture of fear as well. He knew why. It was just like the night before. It had happened again, as he came under serious threat, Danny Whise was seemingly able to conjure up a power from within himself that enabled him another chance. If it wasn't for the words he had spoken last night, Jerad may also have been confused by such a power. However, he knew… he didn't know how Danny Whise was the same as him, but he knew… they were alike in that they both had power that no ordinary person seemed to have. The only difference was Jerad knew how to control his power, and he knew Danny could only summon his up in desperation, after which he lost ability to control himself.

A shot of strange white light, similar to electricity, seemed to briefly appeared around Danny's body at random times, as he continued to tremble, falling to his right hand side but never actually going over.

"Ready for round two. Huh?" Jerad yelled, walking towards Danny. The aching in his shoulders was getting worse. It wasn't the fall that had hurt him, he realised, it was the force with which Danny's power had knocked him back. Danny had now lifted his head and it had shocked Jerad enough to stop him where he stood. Danny's eyes were now pure white, almost shining. He had a scowl set on his face, and with blood still dripping from his forehead and right side of his face, he was a rather scary sight to behold. It reminded Jerad of the night before, but far more extreme. For the first time in the fight, Jerad was feeling truly apprehensive and weary of his incensed opponent. The night before, Danny's eyes had not lost their pupils as they had now. He looked like some kind of zombie, as if such things existed. Jerad nearly laughed for even coming up with such an idiotic comparison, but it was in some sense true, particularly as Danny looked so battered.

Danny let out another primal yell and turned his head to the sky. Another wave of energy crashed into Jerad, he held his arms up and was able to stand his ground this time. The blast was not as strong as before, but it was still incomprehensively strong. As Jerad felt the wave subside he lifted his head, which he had held behind his arms to protect, and saw Danny flying towards him. Danny was in fact apparently literally flying through the air, or performing an astoundingly massive leap. Before Jerad could even begin to react Danny had given Jerad a punch twice as hard as the night before. He felt himself shooting backwards, his body crashed against and smashed straight through the wooden steps Barrett, Cid, Aeris, Jim and Tifa had been observing from, shattering the wood into a million splinters. The group had now pulled back so that they were watching from the entrance, mostly out of fear and also for their own safety. Nobody had said anything since the fight had started, other than shocked cries and gasps, there had been a complete silence.

Danny stood in position for a few seconds, observing Jerad's body. As the young warrior began to move, Danny bound forward, his speed unnatural and chilling, and with a firmly placed foot kicked Jerad square in the ribs as he tried to regain vertical status. There was a crunching sound and a strangled cry from Jerad a she tumbled backwards. It seemed the tables had now turned. Jerad clutched his ribs, which were on fire, and stared in terror at Danny, who was once again advancing, again dropping to his right side briefly. Another brief crackle of white light shot around his body. Danny picked Jerad up by the scruff of his neck and began swinging him around, getting faster and faster until finally releasing him into the air. Jerad's flailing body soared into the sky, flying up to an impossible height and then beginning to fall. Danny leapt up after Jerad had fell half way down, and draped his body over his shoulder. Danny turned so his head was facing the ground and with a mighty swing tossed Jerad to the ground below, which cracked as Jerad's body hit the pavement with a sickening thud. Danny landed perfectly a few metres away and began to advance again. Jerad did not move. Blood poured from the back of his head and from his left cheek too, where he was cut rather badly. His body was twisted in an abnormal position. As Danny prepared to give Jerad another swift and devastating kick, a body suddenly chucked itself in front of Jerad. It was Aeris. She held her arms out, stainding directly in front of Danny with tears falling down her face. She trembled as she faced Danny, scared but not willing to let him end her brother's life.

"Please stop… this is enough!" She sobbed, noticing how much bigger Danny's body had grown since the fight had swung in his favour.

"Ashbe' esfru'colla mo'hi'be'." Danny said, in a rough voice that was so deep it was almost indistinguishable.

"Geko'!" Aeris screamed back at him. Danny drew back his arm, preparing to strike Aeris. She closed her eyes but bravely held her ground. A hand grabbed Danny's forearm just before he struck. The bloodied fighter turned round and stared furiously at Jim, who was holding him back.

"What's wrong with you, Danny!?" Jim growled, letting go and stepping back towards Barrett, Cid and Tifa, who were standing behind him, looking somewhat scared but ready to fight nonetheless. Instead of replying, Danny's face became filled with rage. He turned back to Aeris, looking at Jerad's prone and beaten body on the floor. Dropping to his knees, he screamed in absolute fury, letting off a final wave of power which shook the ground, causing everyone around him to fall to their knees, after which he himself fell flat on his face and lay still. His body returned to normal before their eyes, losing the extra muscle and density. Aeris lay on the ground for a few moments, regaining her breath. She pulled herself up slowly and turned to face Danny, checking for movement. He was not moving at all. She slowly crawled over to Jerad and began to cry again as she saw his bloody face, and the pool of his own blood he was laying in. She felt for his pulse, and breathed a shaky sigh of relief when she found a relatively strong pulse. However, she knew if she didn't stop the wound on the back of his head bleeding, things could get a lot worse.

"Do you have medical supplies in the bar?" Aeris asked Tifa, who had ran over to help her.

"Yes, come on, let's hurry." Tifa helped Aeris lift Jerad, but they had difficulty, as he was nothing but dead weight. Cid quickly came over to assist them, as Barrett and Jim cautiously rolled Danny over onto his back. Jim opened one of Danny's eyelids. His pupils and cornea were back. Feeling relieved, but still very uneasy, he nodded an affirmative to Barrett and they lifted Danny off the ground and walked towards the bar with him. Danny looked in a similar state to Jerad, except with perhaps slightly less blood loss. Whereas Jerad's attack had lasted longer, Danny's had been shorter but far more powerful. Both were badly beaten, in any case, but by being the last man standing, Danny had won the fight. Though the winner of the fight was certainly not on the minds of anybody. As Jim entered the bar with his destroyed friend's unconscious body leaning on his shoulder, he wondered just what the hell they had gotten themselves into.

In the sky, unseen by anybody, Sephiroth hovered. A smirk set on his face. He had seen the fight from beginning to end, and had even predicted the eventual outcome perfectly. Yes, everything was just as he had thought. Events were now in motion, and now his son had released his power, it would only grow stronger.

"In you, my son, the fire still burns strong." Sephiroth began feeling a little dizzy, it was time to recharge. With a final glance at the Seventh Heaven bar, he turned from this location and headed towards the nearest exit, where more guards would meet their untimely end.


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"We've been waiting too long." Reno tossed a card onto the table, he despised playing cards, but Tseng and Rude seemed to enjoy the method of passing time. He sat back in his chair, looking at his watch again. Time certainly wasn't moving quickly for him. Despite Tseng's prediction that the rebels would be in Sector 6 by the end of the evening, the rebels had not come. It was now the following evening, and once again the Turks were sitting at a small table within Don Corneo's mansion, as special guests, of course, playing cards and waiting for any kind of signal from the captain of the command stationed at the entrance of Sector 6, which Reno was hoping would come through the two-way radio sitting silently on the table some time soon.

"Nonsense. They'll come. They have to, they've got nowhere else to go." Tseng threw a card down onto the table, smirking and taking a quick glance at the walkie-talkie. "Besides, we get to sit around and relax for a little while."

"Maybe I'm tired of sitting around." Reno stood up, walking to the door. "I'm going for a walk." He exited the room without a second glance to either of his fellow Turks and made his way down the ridiculously long corridor. He hated inactivity, but moreso when it was filled with something he hated. Recently he had felt uncomfortable around Tseng and Rude anyhow. Ever since he had picked up that damn picture. His hand went to his inside pocket again, feeling the picture safely nestled inside. He again had the urge to take it out and throw it away, to rip it to pieces and forget it existed. Forget she existed. His mind continued to play images in his head, of days past, where he and Aeris were happy, young and carefree. Back then he didn't have any blood on his hands, and he still felt worthy of her love. Back when he didn't feel so dirty.

"Ahhh, Reno, good to see you!"

Reno came out of his thoughts, turning his head up and inwardly flinching as he saw the Don walking towards him, a skimpily dressed woman on either arm. The Don had a smirk on his face, here was a man Reno truly detested. Though Reno often wondered whether he had the right to detest anyone, after the acts he had committed, but still, he had a right to his own preferences, after all. The Don was an overweight, aging womanizer. He lived to command those below him, have sex with those who took his fancy and suck up to those above him, who fuelled his power. That included ALIEN.

"Good evening." Reno said uninterestedly, preparing to walk past without any further conversation, but it seemed the Don was not finished.

"Wait! Reno! Why the rush to leave, my friend? Are you busy?" The Don smiled crudely, as if he had some kind of proposition for Reno. Although Reno didn't want to talk to the Don much, he knew if he could get anything out of the Don that was even slightly inclined to rebellious activity he could have him taken down. Reno would be proud to bring down such scum, for once.

"I felt like a walk. Do you need something?" Reno asked casually, folding his arms and eyeing the Don contemptuously. The Don looked slightly nervous but continued smiling, winking at Reno.

"Well, I happen to have a couple of fine girls here with me… but I'm not really in the mood for too much action tonight, even a man with my bedroom stamina sometimes needs a quiet night… if you wish to take one of these lovely ladies for yourself, I'm sure either can show you a good time."

Reno should have known this was what the Don had in mind. Unfortunately it was nothing that could bring him down, no, he was too smart, too wise to the political game by now to make such a stupid mistake. This was just another way of trying to get the Turks on his side. Reno didn't even have to think about his answer. Both girls were very attractive physically, the Don always picked the best looking girls, but any girl who would sleep with a man like the Don held no attraction to Reno. He found it hard to feel passionate about any other woman since he'd left Aeris… he had to consciously stop himself touching the photo, shaking his head and smiling at the girls.

"I'm sorry, I really just need a walk. Thanks for the offer though, maybe another time."

"I'll keep their details for you." The Don shrugged, turning round with the girls still clinging to him, giggling stupidly as he led the way down to his room at the end of the corridor. Reno doubted those girls knew how to do much else other than laugh and have sex. There certainly weren't many thoughts going on inside their heads. He continued to the end of the corridor and down a flight of steps. The receptionist, a tall, dark-skinned man in his early twenties, gave Reno a nod, barely looking up from the newspaper he was reading as Reno exited the mansion and entered Wall Market. A wave of sights and sounds and smells washed over Reno. He enjoyed coming to Wall Market, it reminded him of a long time ago, when he would come to the Market for his mother and purchase the weekly shopping. His mother was too scared to go to the market, even with Reno. Back then, before the Government had taken monsters as a serious threat, civilians in the slums were always in danger of being attacked. The route to Wall market, a small path that led behind the walls of Sector 7 and past the main gate that led into Sector 7, was notorious for monster-attacks, and very few walked the path alone or without weapons. Reno used to carry a small knife with him, but more than once ended up breaking a monster's neck with his bare hands, or if there were more than one simply running for his life. The monsters never came near the entrance to Wall market. They didn't like to stray near crowds of humans.

Reno put his hands into his pockets and strolled down a path, stalls and shops either side of him. He could smell a variety of foods, from fish to beef being cooked, cries from stall-makers rang around him, all offering items at low prices. He didn't glance at any of them, but hearing their attempts to do business made him smile regardless. It must be nice to be making money in such a simple and legit fashion. Looking up, Reno noticed a boy, no older than seventeen, with a furious look on his face, screaming and yelling at an older man with a very similar resemblance, perhaps his brother, the man was too young to be his father. Reno made sure he was embedded out of sight in the crowd before wandering a little closer to try and hear what was being said.

"Everyone knows ALIEN aren't doing the slums any favour!" The boy yelled at his supposed brother. "They don't care about us! They make promises to improve things, to make things better for us, but they waste all their money and time on wars, and the people on the top plate! The rich ones!"

Reno began moving closer, as the boy continued talking.

"You know what I think? I think now is the time to join those who are rebelling, we already know there are groups, ALIEN have admitted there are a faction that are on the loose right now! "

"You're talking crazy. You'd better shut your mouth or you'll get yourself in big trouble." The older man said, shaking his head with distain.

"I don't care! I'll find the group and then I'll-"

"You'll what?" Reno had now stepped out of the crowd, he was standing directly behind the young man and had his electro stick in his hand. The young man jumped and turned round, a look of sheer terror on his face as he realised who Reno was. Everybody knew and feared the Turks. The older man stood in front of the younger one and gulped.

"Listen, my bro is confused, please, don't hurt him… don't lock him up, please… he wouldn't really do anything!"

Reno sneered and with a swift backhand connected a forceful blow to the man's face with the electro stick. The older brother fell to the floor, writhing and holding his face. The younger brother stared at Reno, still a look of pure fear in his eyes but also a spark of rebellion, of anger and hatred. The boy charged at Reno, but was met with a blow to the stomach. The electro stick dug right into the young man's ribs and winded him to the point where he could barely breathe. He fell to his knees and gasped for breath. Reno didn't give him long, hitting the boy on the top of his head with the end of his electro stick. The crowds had now stopped moving, all eyes were on the commotion Reno had caused. The stall owners had stopped yelling and were looking over curiously, along with people inside the restaurants looking out of the windows tentatively at the scene.

"Please, please sir!" The older brother staggered to his feet, only to be knocked down again by Reno, this time using his fist. As the older brother lay on the floor, bleeding from a wound inflicted by Reno's hard strike, the younger one was leaning against the wall of the shop they were fighting outside of, coughing from the earlier blow. Reno walked over and grabbed the boy by his shirt, slamming him against the wall with such force that it knocked the wind out of the boy for a second time, and he began another coughing fit.

"You'll be taken down for this. We won't allow this seed of rebellion to grow or spread any longer!" He growled, holding the boy tight against the wall. Tears began to fall down the young boy's face, his winded body tried to conjure up some energy to try and fight Reno off, but it was pointless. The Turk had dealt his blows precisely. As Reno held the boy against the wall, he felt a slight prick on his chest, and realised the photo of Aeris was poking against his chest as his jacket was stretched.

"Aeris…" He said, looking at the boy and beginning to feel emotions he had thought lost. Pity, and sadness for what he had become, he was a man that could and would destroy lives for the benefit of a corrupt government. The same Government this boy knew, every word the boy had yelled at his older brother was correct, the truth, but Reno knew his job. He was paid to protect these corrupt individuals, and he did believe that in some way the society of Midgcar was being protected and moulded for the future. Sometimes black hearts had to lead the way to a brighter future. The ones who disagreed had to be dealt with, emotion must be set aside, the good of society, the good of the world… that was the ultimate aim. Tseng's words exactly, on the first day Reno had joined the Turks. He'd come too far now to throw it all away because of a picture of a woman who hated him, and because of fickle emotion. He tossed the boy to the ground.

"This is a warning. I so much as see you anywhere near anything suspected to do with rebellion and I shall have you arrested."

"Y-Yes, sir…" The boy shivered, getting up and wiping his eyes. He began coughing again and groaned from the pain in his ribs as he did so. Reno shook his head, turning and briskly leaving the scene, feeling the eyes of the Market fixed firmly on him as he headed back to Don Corneo's mansion. He should have arrested the boy there. He should have taken him to the Guards near the Market entrance and had him arrested on suspicion of treason. It would have been a show of power that would have scared the public. However, he didn't. Reno felt an anger within himself, all his training, all the deeds he had done to make himself cold and ruthless… was it all being undone by a stupid photo of a woman who was now his enemy?


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

_Carry on, and I will forever_

_Longing drives bad memories away_

_And still I carry on, and I will forever_

_When I see you smile I dare to believe again…_

---

"Come on, Danny!" Tifa called, running up the steep hill just outside of their hometown Kalm with an enthusiasm she only reserved for events she was really excited about. Danny looked up at her, a slightly puzzled expression on his face. He wasn't in any rush and didn't intend to be coerced into a different state of mind.

"Did you forget that monsters roam about outside Kalm? Run too fast and you'll find yourself face-to-face with one." Danny responded, continuing to climb until they were both at the top of the hill. Apparently Tifa wanted to go further, as she was preparing to walk carefully down the just as steep downside of the hill, of which Danny could see around six or seven in succession after this one.

"We shouldn't stray too far from Kalm, Tifa, your parents will be furious when they find out you've been so far out of town!" Danny's legs were aching a little already, he really needed to get into better shape. He hadn't been doing much since he had moved out of his foster parents house, school was over. He had applied for the Kalm army, and assumed that once he got in he would begin getting fitter. He needed the money to pay the rent, anyhow. This month he was going to use the money he had collected when he had a part-time job as a young boy helping the postman do his rounds. He doubted there was a lot left, but there would hopefully be enough for this month at least. If he didn't get into the army, then he would be in trouble.

"Oh listen to yourself." Tifa rolled her eyes. "Little Danny scared of a few monsters? Jeez, I have my gun, you have a dagger or two on you I'm sure. We can take down a monster easily enough." She began descending down the other side of the hill, breaking into a fast run as she got closer to the bottom. Danny followed, a little quicker, murmuring curses and praying that they didn't meet more than one monster. If they did, then they would need a lot of luck, and more than a couple of daggers and a small pistol. He gripped the handle of the dagger at his side. They were specifically designed for close-combat, and compared to the sword he was learning to use, were a rather weak weapon. Besides, he didn't want to get close to a monster. The sun was going down, it would soon be turning to night, and that was the most dangerous time. The hills themselves were in fact a quite safe area, the monsters preferred hiding in woodlands and marshes. The hills were near woodlands and marshes, but monsters rarely advanced into these areas. Nonetheless, if nothing else Danny prided himself on being cautious at all times. One had to be, in such violent times. He often heard of riots and violent protests being waged in other towns, resentful of the ALIEN presence that had seeped into the town. 'Like a virus', Tifa had called it. She hadn't tried an attack on the ALIEN building in Kalm in over a month, Danny figured she was either getting lazy… or planning something really big. The latter made him wary, and a little afraid. They continued going up and down the hills, Danny complaining after each one was cleared, but still following. Finally, when they got to the last hill, Tifa sat down. She was completely out of breath, and so was he. He walked over to the edge of the hill and looked down.

At the bottom of the hill was a flowing river, which opened out into the sea. The water was sparkling from the setting sun reflecting on it. The sun was lazily setting behind the horizon, and soon they would be in darkness. Though it appeared the night would be cloudless, as Danny could not detect a cloud in sight. He sat down next to Tifa, stretching out. She drew her knees up to her chest and looked out over the sea, smiling a little.

"It's beautiful, don't you think?" Her gaze was now set on the horizon, where the sun was making its final bow. Danny shrugged, yawning.

"It's okay I guess."

"Okay?" She looked at him. "The river is so pretty at this time… and the sea is so… so amazing… almost makes you forget about everything else."

"Not for me." Danny said nonchalantly, laying back and looking up at the slowly darkening sky. He could see a few stars fading into view, as a shade of black began to invade the light. There was a warm air, and the faint smell of the sea, coupled with the grass and flowers surrounding them, made for an interesting and relaxing aroma.

"Oh, you're so… unromantic." She folded her arms, shaking her head.

"No I'm not." He turned his head, seeing a daffodil growing a few feet away. He reached his hand over and plucked it, handing it to her. "Here."

"Thank you very much." She took it and laughed a little. Danny's gesture was sweet, he often did little things that to him meant nothing, things that to him simply kept her happy, but to her, they meant a lot, and she found herself more attracted to him now than any time before. She'd hoped being out here would have weakened his inhibitions a little, but that didn't seem to be the case. He was acting just as if they were surrounded by a huge crowd, watching their every movement. Maybe that's just how he was.

"No problem." He laid back down, staring at the sky in silence. She wondered what was on his mind. He was pretty secretive, and she didn't know too much about him, despite knowing him for at least four years now. Of course she knew his personality and basic shared friend information very well, but when it came to his personal tastes, preferences and fears, she knew very little indeed.

"Got a reply from the army yet?" She asked, laying back with her arms behind her head, watching the sky transform as the sun disappeared.

"No, not yet… I expect I'll get a reply this week. If not, it'll be next week."

"Why do you want to join the army?" She tried not to sound concerned, more curious, but it didn't come through very well. He looked over, raising his eyebrow slightly.

"Good pay, and the training looks pretty decent. Why? You don't want me to?"

"It's your choice. I was just curious!" She said, laying back down and trying to calm down. Her outburst left Danny a little surprised, but he shrugged and resumed gazing at the sky. A few minutes passed before Tifa spoke again.

"Just be careful. I don't want you to die."

Danny laughed, shaking his head.

"I won't, okay? It's not like a huge war's gonna start any time soon."

Tifa nodded, trying to feel as confident as Danny did, but she had an uneasy feeling she couldn't get rid of. She hated the thought of Danny being in the army. She wanted him to find a simple job and perhaps get an apprenticeship… but he had to pick the most dangerous job.

"You're quiet… what are you thinking about?" She queried, sitting up and stretching a little. Despite her uneasiness she was really enjoying being here. She loved everything from the view to the smells. It was her perfect place. As the darkness descended upon them and the night rolled across the hills, a colder breeze began to appear. Tifa shivered, rubbing her arms. She wished now that she had thought to bring a jacket, she was wearing a light blue sleeveless top, and was getting a little cold.

"Not much." Danny looked over, seeing her shivering. "You cold?"

"Yeah… strange how fast it gets cold around here." She replied, her voice shaking slightly from the drop in temperature.

"Here… I'm not cold." Danny took off his jacket and handed it to her. His navy t-shirt offered little more protection from the cold than her top, but he seemed unbothered by the cold.

"Thanks!" She smiled at him and put on his jacket, immediately feeling much warmer. She looked at his arm and then back at him. "Your arms sure are getting bigger, are you going to a gym or something?"

"No…" Danny looked at his arm and rubbed it self-consciously. "I noticed that too… must be a growth spurt or something. They're getting a lot bigger than before… it's weird… but I'm not complaining."

"Yeah, you have been getting bigger lately… and your eyes…"

"My eyes?" He turned his head away from her, looking at the ground. She giggled and poked his arm gently.

"Don't be so embarrassed. I was just saying, they seem to… I don't know… glow, recently. It's nice… I like it."

"If you say so." He turned his head up and looked out to the sea. By now the sun had completely disappeared from view and the sky was completely black. The stars shone beautifully above them, and the moon hung gracefully over the sea, casting a soft shade of light upon them.

"So pretty…" She took a deep breath and slowly laid her head on his shoulder. She felt him stiffen up a bit and shuffle uncomfortably.

"Uh… you tired?" He said, more than a little nervousness in his voice. He cleared his throat accordingly.

"No…" She replied simply, watching the darkened sea with him. They sat there in silence for a while, for Tifa, time no longer meant anything. To Danny it felt like forever. He was feeling extremely uncomfortable at this point, and was continually shuffling and wondering what Tifa was doing. Was she trying to come onto him? Did she like him as more than a friend? Or was he overreacting?

"Tifa… was Jim really feeling unwell tonight?"

It seemed Danny was beginning to work things out. Tifa giggled, she had told Danny Jim wasn't feeling well, and that was why it was only them going. That had been a slight lie. She had never contacted Jim. She liked him, as a friend, but she needed to be alone with Danny.

"You'll have to ask him." She replied, sitting up off his shoulder and looking at him. He didn't turn to face her. "Danny, look at me."

"Why?"

"Look at me!"

"What?" As he turned round, she took his face in her hands and leaned in to kiss him. She wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted, but when she broke away she was breathless. She blushed a little, looking at Danny, who was visibly shocked, and stood up, brushing herself off.

"So… um… let's get back to Kalm." She turned away from him and began walking back down the hill, to the town. Confused and surprised, Danny scrambled up off the floor and followed her. They walked back in silence, an uneasy yet romantic air around them.


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

He could feel himself waking up. His eyes weren't opening yet, but his consciousness was returning. His senses were beginning to instruct his mind once more. Tenderly Danny opened his eyes, wincing as a bright light entered his vision. The light of day. He wondered exactly how long he'd been asleep. The last thing he remembered… was fighting Jerad. He must have gotten his ass kicked.

"Oh! He's waking up!" A female voice said, if Danny had been in a sharper sense of mind he would have jumped. As it was, he groaned and tried again to open his eyes, squinting and lifting his arm to block some of the light. Immediately he felt a hand push his arm back down.

"No, Danny… not yet." The same voice. It was Aeris… he was sure of it. He was somewhat comforted that she was there. She and Jerad hadn't left, yet. He tried to speak, but his mouth was very dry, and it hurt to move his lips. He made a kind of gurgling sound, then tried opening his eyes further. It stung at first, but gradually his eyes got used to the light. He looked at Aeris, she was a little blurry, his sight wasn't perfect yet, but he was sure everything would be alright. Jerad couldn't have done too much damage… she wouldn't let him, would she?

"Just relax, Danny. You're going to be fine, you just need to take this slowly." She held his hand tight and stroked his face. From what he could make out, Danny thought he could see an expression of calm on her face, which encouraged him. He groaned again and made an effort to sit up a little, but again he felt her hand, on his shoulder this time, gently pushing him back down. He tried to protest but still couldn't form any words. With a growl he stopped making an effort and lay still, regulating his breathing and getting his vision back to normal.

"That's good… you're alright. Don't worry… you're fine. You'll be back to normal in no time!" Her constant encouragement was beginning to make him a little wary. He turned his neck, which was extremely stiff, slightly downwards… he could see the outline of his legs… he could feel all his body parts. Then again, he remembered, many people could still feel body parts that had been cut off or amputated. However, he managed to move both feet and already knew he had both his hands, and could see the sheets moving as he moved the corresponding limb, therefore he was pretty sure all of his limbs were in working order. Though what condition they were in was a different matter. He licked his lips, but his tongue was dry too, so it didn't make much difference. Aeris got up, walking out of his vision, swiftly returning however with a glass of water.

"Come on, open up." She smiled, as if talking to a child. He suppressed his anger and forced his jaw open, though it hurt somewhat to do so. She held one hand under his chin, and with the other poured a little water into his mouth. Danny's throat felt very tight, and sore, but he eagerly gulped down the drink, and continued swallowing until the glass was drained. Aeris set the glass down next to his bed and sat back down on the small stool he had only just noticed next to the bed.

"Well done… do you feel better?" She patted his hand, picking it up again. He cleared his throat, managing a scratchy reply, barely audible, but Aeris nodded anyhow.

"Yes." He could say no more. His throat seemed to close up after he had breathed the word and he coughed. Closing his eyes, he felt himself drifting off again. Maybe he was a lot more beaten up than he'd realised… just a short nap, then he'd feel much better. He felt Aeris squeeze his hand tighter, and then a strange sensation, as if the darkness in front of his eyes were somehow shimmering, moving… he noticed it was no longer the colour black he was seeing, but a glowing white. Had somebody turned on a light? Confused, he opened his eyes, only to now find himself standing, in a place that was simply white. There seemed to be no end, no limit to anything… even the floor he stood on was white, and appeared to blend in with everything else. If Danny hadn't been able to walk, and feel some kind of solid surface beneath his feet, he would have assumed he was floating.

"What is this?" He said, hearing his voice echo, then slowly fade out. As he prepared to yell for help, a bright flash caused him to cover himself and step backwards. Putting his arms down, he was relieved to see Aeris standing a few metres away from him. His relief turned to embarrassment rather quickly though, as he noticed she was naked.

"I must be in a dream or something…" He said to himself, looking sideways and trying not to glance at her. She giggled, smiling.

"No, this is real… although I do apologise for my lack of clothing…" Another flash, and she was suddenly dressed in her usual clothes. "There!"

"What is this place?" Danny asked, feeling slightly cold, and noticing Aeris was still looking at him with a mischievous smile on her face. He was confused for a few seconds, then looked down and realised he too had no clothes on. He covered himself with a growl and glared at her. "Clothe me immediately!"

"Alright, alright!" She chuckled, shaking her head and pointing at him. Clothes accordingly faded onto his body, the same ones he had worn before his fight with Jerad. He doubted that clothing was in good enough shape to wear anymore.

"Thanks…" he muttered, brushing his clothes off, despite them being in perfect condition, and still feeling a little embarrassed, but more perplexed about what was going on. He prayed this was all some kind of really strange dream. "So, what is this… place?" He asked again, looking around with a bemused expression on his face.

"Well… it's somewhere… inside you." She said simply, shrugging. "It's a place we all have inside us… not many people know it exists… this is where we go when we sleep. Here, you can create anything you want. Do anything you want… find out things about yourself." She looked at him directly after this statement, awaiting his reply. He shuffled his feet and shrugged.

"How did you get here then? If this is my place?" He didn't ask with any anger, he was purely curious, and still didn't completely believe what was happening.

"It's a… gift I have. I'm here to help you, Danny…" She held his arm gently, trying to reassure him with a smile, but he looked worried, and stepped back from her defensively.

"Thanks, but I don't need any help." He turned away from her, beginning to walk away, only to find her in front of him, making him jump a little.

"Danny… I can see you're scared… I'm scared too… we all are… I can help you find out what's happening to you." She reached out to touch his arm again but he pulled back sharply this time, a slightly more fierce and agitated look in his eyes as he began to raise his voice.

"Listen! There's nothing wrong with me! I just blacked out a couple of times! I'll be fine…" He turned his back on her, folding his arms. She didn't respond for a minute or so, but eventually sighed and nodded.

"Alright, Danny. I'm always here... if you want my help..." Another flash, and she was gone, leaving him alone in his own mind. He decided if anyone was going to find out what was happening here… if anything was happening at all… it would be him. Nobody else needed to worry, or care. He cursed himself for driving her away so hastily, he hadn't even found out what condition he or Jerad was in because of his anger. The brightly lit world was now fading out around him, as darkness surrounded him, he succumbed to a peaceful slumber.


	29. Chapter 28

It's been a long while since I've updated… ## well, I have been writing new scenes, just not ones coherent with the current timeline. But, finally I did manage to finish the final Reno/Aeris past scene. Onto bigger and better things!

Chapter 28

_The lover and the blind man they sing their song  
The pleasured and the pained pray their sins are gone  
They can't reach heaven, truth's brutal lesson  
Forgive yourself, for no one else will die for your crimes  
But who decides, who decides?_

----

They sat waiting, he on the slab of concrete, her on a chair brought out from under the dining table, not a word spoken between them. An uncomfortable air had settled between the two since the revelation of Jerad's accumulation of weaponry. On one hand, Reno had a job to do, and something like this would undoubtedly be reported to ALIEN if any other person was on the scene, on the other… he'd known Aeris and Jerad since childhood. Reno needed to talk to Jerad, to get him to hand over all his weapons… only then would he be able to forget it ever happened. He could just say he found them somewhere, or he busted somebody and they ran away. Any explanation other than the truth would do. Finally, after what seemed to both Aeris and Reno an eternity, the church doors swung open, and Jerad stepped inside. He stopped short, noting by the expressions on Reno and Aeris's faces that something wasn't right.

"Something wrong?" He folded his arms, casting a stare at both.

"As a matter of fact, there is." Reno stood up, walking over to Jerad. He was marginally taller than the angry-eyed youth, but Jerad was not intimidated. Sensing he was the reason Reno was agitated, Jerad smirked and stared at him unblinking.

"Something to do with me, Turk?" He spat out the last word with a lot of animosity.

"Yes, Jerad." Reno said coolly, not taking his eyes off him. "It concerns the stash of illegal weapons you currently have stocked neatly in your room."

Jerad turned to Aeris, a furious look in his eyes. Aeris cowered back a little, looking at Reno a little fearfully. She was scared for his safety, if he pushed Jerad too far. He didn't know the abilities Jerad possessed, or that she possessed… if he did, she was sure he'd never come near either of them again.

"Jerad, we went into your room to find you… and we found weapons everywhere." Aeris tried to sound authoritative and displeased, but her voice came out far tinier than she'd hoped. Only because she too was scared of her brother. Jerad strode forward with a vicious look on his face, grabbing Reno by the shirt and holding him high in the air.

"How dare you go into my room, Turk!" He scowled hatefully, prepared to teach Reno a physical lesson.

"No, Jerad!" Aeris grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away from Reno. Before she could, Reno had taken a small knife out of his pocket and slashed Jerad's arm with it. Jerad immediately recoiled, cursing at Reno and nursing his wrist. Reno put away the knife and produced a small handgun.

"You think I won't use this? I will. You'd better not touch me, ever again." Reno's scowl now matched Jerad's in intensity. The fragile balance of respect that had existed before now seemed shattered.

"No, please, stop it…" Aeris's voice shook, as she tried to keep calm. She had feared a situation such as this ever since Reno had joined the Turks. Jerad's demeanour towards Reno had changed ever since that day, and it seemed Jerad's feelings of animosity towards Reno had finally peaked. Before, he had really had no excuse to attack Reno, but now, despite it being a relatively small infringement, Jerad had found his platform from which to launch an assault.

"You think I'm scared of you?" Jerad smiled contemptuously and stared at Reno, his eyes burning with rage. "I tell you this, Turk. You better shoot me right now, because if you don't, I'm going to make sure you never have the chance to use that gun again."

Both Aeris and Reno knew Jerad meant every word of it. This young man was not afraid to act upon his rage, as had been demonstrated in the past, and although Aeris doubted Jerad would kill Reno, he would certainly leave him in a very bad way, perhaps in such a condition Reno could never fully recover from. She tried to catch Reno's eye, but he was keenly focused on her enraged brother.

"Just tell me why those weapons were in your room, Jerad." Reno kept his voice smooth as ice, yet his eyes betrayed his anger. Aeris began to worry about whether Reno would actually pull the trigger.

"You really want to know?" Jerad hissed at Reno, a snake-like quality to his voice. "Alright, here's something that'll surprise you both. I'm a member of an underground rebel movement. They supplied me with those weapons."

"What?" Aeris gasped, shocked by this revelation. Whilst she had known of his hatred for the government, she had no idea he was involved in terrorism. Reno, on the other hand, was smiling now, as if he had been proven right, somehow.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm a terrorist. Except we don't call ourselves terrorists, because we're not. We're freedom fighters!"

"Give me a break." Reno chuckled.

"Look at you." Jerad narrowed his eyes. "Standing there in your nice blue suit, thinking you're something special because you work for the all-powerful government. Because you're in a team that's known in most circles as assassins… you don't have any right to look down upon me. You're just a lapdog! Me? I follow my own rules and I set my own rules."

"If you were ever head of any society it would crumble in days." Reno shook his head, keeping the gun aimed steadily at Jerad.

"How do you know? Just because you're too narrow minded to view a society other than this… because you're blind to the evil you're protecting! You're a link in the chains that bind us all! We break those links! We release the millions of people you and your kind keep tied down!"

"Do you practice these speeches, or what?" Reno interrupted, becoming impatient. He had to act, now. Jerad had admitted to being a terrorist, and as a Turk he had no choice but to arrest him, no matter what Aeris said.

"Make your jokes, Turk…" Jerad spat at Reno's feet. "We're stronger than you think. Remember the Upper Sector Two bombing last month? Guess who planted one of the bombs."

"No, Jerad…" Aeris brought her hand to her mouth, disgusted her brother could have been part of such a violent act that killed so many innocent people. Jerad couldn't be serious.

"Aeris… don't think of me as a murderer. The people living on that plate know the score… they support the black heart that pumps black blood around this city. They are part of the reason for the decay of our lives. You have to understand…"

"You've been brainwashed, kid." Reno interrupted once more, tired of hearing Jerad's flowery use of language. It was obvious the young man had inhaled the fumes of rebellion willingly and was now spewing out the mindless drivel that was preached by those who used their status as hardcore rebels to coax the younger, idealistic breed of young people to follow their doctrines.

"Be quiet, scum!" Jerad's voice returned to a hiss, as he made a step forward. Reno kept his gun held firmly.

"One more step, and I will shoot you. I'm trained to deal with situations like this." Reno's voice was full of confidence and not an ounce of apprehension filtered through into his speech. Aeris began to cry, holding onto Jerad's arm and begging him to give it up. This only worsened Jerad's temperament, he raised his fist and locked eyes with Reno.

"That's the only way scum like you knows how to handle things! When people don't agree with you, they get gunned down!"

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black, my young friend?" Reno allowed a condescending smile to appear on his face. "You despise us for our methods, yet you yourself use terror tactics to get noticed. Slightly hypocritical, don't you think?"

Jerad growled, pulling his arm away from Aeris. "You don't have the guts to shoot me, Turk! I hate you! I'll kill you!" Jerad charged forward furiously. With no hesitation whatsoever, Reno pulled the trigger of the gun. A bullet leapt forth and the precision of Reno's aim became apparent as Jerad stopped dead in his tracks, choking and grabbing his stomach. His breathing became erratic and he fell to his knees, as blood seeped out between his fingers and dripped onto the church floor.

"Oh, oh God… no!" Aeris let out a hysterical scream and grabbed Jerad, prying his hands from the wound and sobbing as she saw the bullet hole embedded in his flesh. Crimson blood was flowing from the wound. Jerad looked up at Reno, grinning slightly.

"To die at your hands… how humiliating." He fell to the floor with a thud, closing his eyes. Aeris crawled over to him, shaking violently and brushing his hair back, she tried to wipe away her tears, desperate to continue believing Jerad would be alright. Her sorrow turned to anger. She stood up and glared at Reno, unable to believe he had shot her brother.

"You… bastard!" She walked towards him, until they were toe-to-toe, and delivered the hardest slap she had ever administered. Reno was rocked by the force of the blow and nearly lost his footing. He stumbled backwards, holding his face and groaning in pain. Yet, he didn't say a bad word towards Aeris. He looked at her, and knew without a shadow of a doubt from this point, their relationship was over. Reno reached into his pocket again, this time produced a small phone.

"You going to call your buddies now? Your assassin buddies? You going to arrest us, huh Reno?" She had started to sob again, and hated herself for appearing to be so weak.

"Hello?" Reno had seemingly reached whoever he was contacting. "Yes. I need an ambulance to the church in sector five. We have a young man down, he's been shot. It could be critical unless you get here soon. Hurry." Reno disconnected himself from the emergency service and glanced at Aeris, his hand still caressing the area of his face that had felt the wrath of Aeris.

"W-what?" Aeris now looked confused, breathing heavy from crying and the effort she put into her slap.

"He needs urgent medical attention. Aeris…" Reno shook his head. "I guess this is it. It's over between us, right?"

"You shot my brother…" Her shoulders shook, as she took a look at her brother's bloody prone body on the floor. "You've shown your true face today, Reno. I can't love a man who could shoot my brother like that… I'm sorry."

Reno shrugged, he was trying to put across a feeling of indifference, but inside he was battling a mixture of grief and fury. "Yeah, well, it's probably for the best anyway. I slept with a few girls whilst I was away anyhow. Needed the comfort." His grin was a mask for the feeling of guilt he felt as he said this and saw Aeris's face crumble, her picture of their relationship tainted further, beyond repair by this point. "So, goodbye, then. I will be coming over here with my 'assassin friends', as you called them, to collect those weapons. I suggest you stay away from her for a few days. I'll not tell the others you live here… but you'd better keep your brother out of trouble. My friends won't be so easy on him." Reno gave Aeris a cruel wink and promptly exited the church, leaving a broken-hearted Aeris behind him forever.

The door closed shut behind him, ominously echoing throughout the church. If the situation had been different, Aeris may have simply stood where she was in shock and continued crying until she had no more tears to release. Yet, she had to put this all to one side, for now. She bent down to Jerad and layed him on his back, biting her lip as she saw the blank expression on his face.

"Jerad… don't worry. An ambulance is coming… you're going to be just fine… just hold on, please. I can't lose you." She felt a lump in her throat and couldn't speak any more. Simply stroking his hair and face, searching for any sign of consciousness.

"I'll… never… ever… put you in danger… again." Jerad's words came as a surprise to her. His lips seemed to move of their own accord, the rest of his face and body were completely still.

"I know." She rested her hand on his cheek. "I know."


	30. Chapter 29

He was healing far faster than anybody had expected. His body was undoubtedly ravaged from the fight with Jerad, and considering the injuries the sector 7 doctor had listed, Danny expected to be unable to function correctly for months. However, it had been barely a week and already he could dress himself and walk a fair distance. The doctor himself could scarcely believe the speed of the healing process, in both Danny and Jerad, who was exhibiting similar signs of extraordinary recovery. At this rate they'd be fighting each other again in a couple of weeks.

Danny often visited this newfound area of his mind Aeris had opened for him. Ever since she'd met him here he'd been able to come here at will as he slept, and he became the master of his dreams. He knew he was inside his mind, yet it all felt so real, it felt as lucid as real life. He could conjure others and speak to them as if in real life, and they didn't always respond how he'd expect. His mind seemed to be able to perfectly replicate the personalities of individuals and project them in ways Danny could not expect. Of course, if he wanted, he could force the projections to say and do whatever he wanted, but where was the fun in that?

The biggest positive about this world of the mind for Danny was that it was a world without consequence. Here he could do whatever he wanted and feel no remorse or experience any repercussions for his actions. If he wanted to yell and rant at Tifa, he could. If he wanted to beat Jerad to a pulp, or spar against him and learn his moves, he could. Of course, he had to keep a limit on some of the things he did, for he was wary that perhaps Aeris was watching him, or others that knew how to project themselves into the minds of others. Danny himself had no idea how Aeris could achieve it, but for the moment he was contented with studying his own mind, let alone others.

Today he had woken up briefly as Tifa had given him his breakfast. This would, in most cases, seem like a kind and caring gesture. Tifa made sure that Danny dreaded the gesture every morning. She would enter the room with a thunderous look upon her face, then slam the tray down upon his stomach, often spilling some of the drink on the tray, then would mumble a few curses and leave. This morning had been no different, if anything she had been in an even fouler mood than usual. The glare she had given him nearly caused him to turn his gaze from her, but if he did that he would have given her an advantage, a sign that she had made him uncomfortable, and that was something he could not hand her. No, instead he smiled at her ruefully and watched as she left the room in frustration. She didn't come to see him any other time during the day. Aeris would come by every so often to check on him. Jim came to talk to him when he could, but he'd got himself a job as a pot washer at a restaurant to make a little money, as it seemed they may be in the sector a few more days. Whilst he wasn't being paid much, any extra was worth it.

Barrett and Cid spent their days scouting the perimeters of the sector and trying to entice gossip from the locals about the location and reaction of ALIEN's forces to the sector seven backlash. From the little information they were able to gather, it seemed the Turks had retreated to sector six and were waiting for the rebels to move that way, whilst posting as many guards as possible outside the exits of Midgcar to block any escape route. The Turks were cautious of angering the inhabitants of sector seven further, particularly without Rufus's permission to use military force, but if the rebels did stay in sector seven too long, the general consensus among the people Barrett and Cid had spoken to was that they would send in guards despite the unrest it may cause. Rufus was not generally considered to be a patient man.

Laying back in the field he had conjured in his mind, Danny stared up at the sky, perfectly blue without a cloud in sight, and let out a sigh. At least he could come here to relax for a short while. The predators seemed to be circling all around him, waiting for him to show a weakness before pouncing and devouring their prey. He'd then either be used as a message to the public that escape from ALIEN is futile, or just be killed. He wondered which would be worse. A small bird landed next to him. He turned to it, slightly surprised, and let himself smile. The mind was indeed an amazing thing. He could see, touch, hear, smell and taste everything perfectly, as if this world was reality itself. Using his mind, he transformed the bird into a fairly large black dog. With an excited bark, the dog bounded over to Danny and began to lick his face. Danny laughed out loud, surprised again, and rubbed the dog's face, stroking its head and marvelling at how real it appeared. He patted the dog on the nose, then got to his feet. The dog began jumping up at him, playfully barking at him and biting at his hands. Danny backed off, laughing, until he came to an abrupt halt. He had knocked into something solid behind him. The dog began to growl and bore its teeth. Danny swivelled round to find Jerad standing before him. Jerad wore complete battle armour that Danny had never seen the likes of before. It appeared strong but lightweight, completely black, from the shoulder pads down to the boots. Danny became confused – he had not conjured Jerad to appear at this point in time.

Danny willed the dog into non-existence, then tried to do the same with Jerad, but he could not. That only meant one thing: Jerad was actually here, in his mind! His surprise must have been showing on his face, because Jerad began to smirk. He ran his eyes over the field briefly, then turned to the sky and eventually locked eyes with Danny.

"So this is what you do with your spare time? Live in an illusion and play with animals? Strange, I mistook you for a warrior."

Danny ignored Jerad's taunts. "How the hell did you get into my mind?"

"My sister has already been here, right? She is also the one that taught me how to do this. I've not used it often… it's really quite pointless. You see, in here you have all the control, and I can only exist. If you wanted to, you could will me away with enough effort… but I think we need to talk." Jerad adjusted the black glove on his right hand and regarded Danny curiously. Danny knew he was right – yet he still felt very uneasy about Jerad being here.

"What do you want? Could this not have waited until we were both healed?"

"No. What I want to show you could not be viewed in the physical realm."

Danny heard a growling, and noticed the black dog was right beside him once more. It bore its teeth at Jerad even more fiercely and barked at him savagely, as if conveying a stern warning not to go near Danny.

"Did you conjure him?" Danny looked at Jerad, raising his eyebrow.

"No. I can't do that, I already told you. I can't do a thing in here other than exist. You're God in here, Danny, you create and destroy as you choose. I assume you didn't create this beast… well, then it must be your subconscious. It will be around you in some sense wherever you go. In a sense, it is you, so you cannot be rid of it. You could turn it into something else to shut it up, though."

Danny patted the dog on the head, then transformed it into a small flower. It sat now with a complete lack of menace, leaning towards the sun and almost gleaming as a beautiful shade of blue. Jerad seemed satisfied and moved closer to Danny, noting the unease in his adversaries face with contempt. The man had no idea of the power he wielded in this type of setting, and Jerad also hoped he did not realise it any time soon.

"How much have you used your subconscious?"

"Whenever I've been asleep." Danny replied, not taking his eyes off Jerad as he wandered around the field, eventually finding a space he seemed to decide was acceptable and sat down, looking up at Danny, who was now quite far away.

"So… you can create stuff, huh? Pretty easy to do. Everything here is easy to do… bet you've created me a few times and given me a good beating, eh?"

"Only as much as you have with me in your mind, I'm sure." Danny replied, not returning Jerad's humorous tone. He walked closer and sat down fairly close to Jerad, so now they were looking straight at each other. Jerad's eyes were even colder in here than in real life. All the subtle nuances he exerted in real life seemed intensified in his subconscious form.

"I thought so." Jerad narrowed his eyes at Danny. "What about Tifa or Aeris? Created them?" Suddenly, his voice was extremely hostile.

"Maybe." Danny winked, enjoying watching Jerad get angry. For a few moments Danny thought Jerad may jump up and attempt to attack him, such was the rage beginning to appear on his face. Then, he seemed to calm down. He bowed his head for a few moments, then began glaring at Danny once more, all humour now disintegrated from his voice.

"You wait until I tell my sister… they'll both make you far sorrier than I could."

"Hey! You better not tell them anything! I wasn't being serious!" Danny growled, knowing whilst Aeris would probably take Jerad's accusation with a grain of salt, Tifa would jump at a chance to verbally and perhaps physically attack one of both of them.

It was Jerad's turn to wink, letting a smirk creep back onto his face. "Let's cut to the chase. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to. Have the others told you about the fight?"

Danny shrugged. "When I ask they seem to skim over brief details and move onto another topic. They all avoid talking about what happened as much as possible. I suppose you're here to tell me I got lucky?"

"Not exactly." Jerad shifted uncomfortably. "You and I, for all our differences, are similar in one aspect. We are both… not human."

"What?" Danny raised his eyebrow at this ridiculous comment.

"I know it may be hard to stomach, but it's the truth. We're not like the others... we harness a very special power within us. That power is derived from our genes. Genes that are not human… whilst we look and act like humans we are in fact from a planet the humans know nothing about called Siatoge, and our race of people, translated into human tongue, are known as the Siat."

"If you're trying to fool me, it isn't working. That's quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Danny rolled his eyes, shaking his head despondantely.

"I didn't think you'd believe me. I've known this fact all my life, yet you have grown up believing yourself to be one of them. It's hard to accept you're actually nothing like them. You're… superior to them. We, as a warrior race, have the ability to become far stronger than our normal form allows. We are able to connect with and absorb the energy of the planet we live on to give us strength beyond anything a human could even dream of. The humans have decided to gain might by using their minds to create machines to do their bidding for them. Our race chose to use our own power to solve problems." Jerad stood, motioning for Danny to do the same. He did so warily, still not buying what Jerad was selling. "Allow me to project an image from my mind to yours. I'll show you the part of the fight you can't remember."

"I don't know how." Danny replied with a shrug.

"Just will it. It's not difficult." Jerad replied. He noticed Danny was still looking uneasy and rolled his eyes in frustration. "Listen, I've already told you, you control everything that happens here. I can't do anything that you don't allow me to do."

"I don't trust you." Danny replied. "However…. I am curious as to what happened, so, I'll let you. But if you try anything…"

"Just do it, already." Jerad snapped, folding his arms.

With a last wary look, Danny closed his eyes and concentrated. After a few seconds he reopened his eyes and shrugged. "Okay, guess I did it."

Jerad waved his hand, and the scenery around them immediately changed. Gone were the rolling green fields, chirping birds and blue skies. They were replaced by the grim contrast of the slums. Large, blinding artificial lighting shone down harshly from above, whilst the metallic plating below them offered as little consolation as the dull grey walls surrounding the sector, reinforcing a the feel of entrapment and artificiality. The scene was currently in pause, as Danny saw himself sitting on the floor, holding himself up by his arms, with a bloody face. Jerad was rushing towards him, preparing to strike again, it seemed. He had a look of pure joy on his face that quite honestly frightened Danny.

"Okay. This was just before you… changed." Jerad said from behind Danny. It caused Danny to jump slightly, as he had become entranced in the scene around him. It seemed strange to be watching the scene from another view, as in his memories he clearly remembered a very different and more terrifying version of events. This scene seemed so much more detached. "I'm kicking your ass at this point." Jerad added proudly.

"What happens next, then?" Danny asked, not replying to the taunt.

"Watch." Jerad clicked his fingers, and the scene began to play out.


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

It had been a busy day today. It shouldn't have been really, traditionally Tuesdays were quite dead, particularly at this time. Herman assumed some kind of special meeting was about to take place, or there was some sort of seminar. He should keep up with such events, really, so he could plan promotions ahead of time and arrange when to have certain staff members in, but he never did. Thus now, as his restaurant became nearly filled to the brim with customers, he found himself seriously understaffed and overworked. He was now working himself as a waiter, and the chefs were cooking three or four things at the same time, trying to remember which foods were in which ovens and when to take out said foods before they got burned.

As the owner of the restaurant, Herman had little choice but to blame himself for the incident. Luckily for him, he had no boss to answer to, and thus if a few customers got angry, as they would undoubtedly do, there were bound to be one or two mix-ups, long waits and burnt food items, he would have nobody but himself to answer to. It wouldn't lead to a noticeable drop in custom, but the less bad word spread about the restaurant the better, especially as his reputation was, as of late, very strong. He had top executives, high-class military personnel and many celebrities even make an appearance in his restaurant recently, causing reputation to skyrocket. As he made his way over to another table, getting out his notepad, preparing to take another order. Hopefully custom would drop during the lunch hour, as everybody seemed to be eating earlier than normal. As Herman got out his notepad, he happened to turn to the entrance, and proceeded to gasp. Business had just picked up, big time.

"I've heard this place is really nice." Angela said, tugging Rufus's arm in the direction of a small, foreign themed restaurant. It bore the name "Benedachi's", and was wedged between a clothes shop and a small insurance office. There was, Rufus had to admit, a delicious smell coming from the restaurant. He wasn't usually keen on going out to restaurants, partly because he didn't like people doing things for him. He would prefer to cook his own food, then knowing without a doubt that whatever entered his mouth had only been touched by him and thus the only person he'd be able to blame if he became ill was himself. However, this first annoyance led to another fear he kept concealed from everybody other than himself. The fear of poison. Assassination. Whilst it would be extremely difficult, virtually impossible, to poison the leader of ALIEN inside his own headquarters, it had been done before. It is how his father was killed after all, and undoubtedly that was the rotten root of his paranoia.

"From who? Those stupid girls you gossip with?" Rufus rolled his eyes. He wasn't particularly fond of his fiancé's friends. Sure, they were giggly and upbeat and talkative… but above all else they were stupid, and stupidity was a pet peeve Rufus had always had.

"They aren't stupid…" Angela sounded a little hurt, but she'd heard plenty of disparaging comments before from her husband about her friends, and it barely surprised her anymore. "Actually, I was told by the wife of the security general. She said they both found the service and food to be exceptional. I think we should go here!"

"Whatever. Let's just eat." Rufus eyed the building once more, somewhat suspiciously. He shook his head, trying to shake his feeling of apprehension and followed his fiancé to the entrance. They were barely inside the doorway when a balding man with a drooping black moustache and beady eyes had stumbled upon them. He was grinning vivaciously and blurting out language Rufus could not understand.

"I'm sorry." Angela held up her hand, smiling politely. "Could you speak a little slower?"

"Yes, yes…" The small man composed himself nervously and took a deep breath. "Welcome to Benedachi's, where foreign tastes come home. My name is Herman Benedachi, owner of the restaurant. It's wonderful to see you here, Mr and Mrs. President… we're honoured you would step foot onto our premises. What is it we can help you with?"

"We'd like to eat." Rufus replied simply, used to but tired of this kind of reception.

"Of course! Only the best table for the president and his lady! Please follow me! We have a special table reserved for esteemed guests such as yourselves, away from the hustle and bustle!" Herman wheeled round, prepared to lead Rufus and Angela to a table at the back of the restaurant. Angela began to follow him, but Rufus didn't move.

"Wait." He said sternly.

"Y-yes?" Herman jumped back round, alarmed he had offended Rufus somehow.

"I would prefer to choose where I sit, thank you." Rufus cast his eyes around the restaurant, as Herman mumbled apologies whilst darting his eyes from Rufus to Angela. The restaurant was busy, and Rufus noted every single customer was glancing this way every so often, surprised at seeing the President here, no doubt, but not wanting to catch his attention. Rufus preferred being among a crowd, he enjoyed integrating himself into the common world and wished he could do so more often. Eventually, he spotted a small table, only built for two people, more or less in the centre of the restaurant. Satisfied, he strolled over to the table and sat down on a red chair which fit him quite perfectly.

"Ah, what an excellent choice sir! You have excellent taste, no doubt about it." Herman smiled and took out his notepad. Rufus saw the small man's hands were shaking – whether with excitement or fear, he could not tell. Angela was regarding him curiously, sitting down with her usual grace and picking up the menu.

"Oh, what an amazing choice of food." She commented, her eyes roaming across the menu ravenously.

"Only the best for the president and his lady! In fact, if you know of a type of food you'd like that isn't on our menu, we'll gladly take your request and do our best to serve the best replication possible!"

"It's okay, she can be a nuisance but I'll keep her under control." Rufus replied, also picking up a menu. He felt a kick from under the table and looked over the top of the menu, seeing Angela pouting at him, he couldn't help but grin. Herman chuckled nervously, gulping and trying to look as calm as possible. He couldn't believe he was serving the president and his fiancé! It was a dream come true! What a huge boost this would be for business! After Rufus and Angela had placed their orders, Herman bowed, stuttering praise for their choices and then scrambled into the back, putting both orders at number one priority.

"What's wrong, baby?"

Rufus turned his head up, Angela was looking at him worriedly. She stretched out her hand, smiling. He chuckled, taking her hand gently and shaking his head.

"Nothing… it's just…"

"You're thinking about your father."

"Yeah. It's stupid, really, but ever since that day…" Rufus closed his eyes, willing the memories to go away. They floated murkily on the surface, but never became full-fledged recollections. He opened his eyes again and allowed his senses to fill his mind quickly with data that would further shove those memories into the background.

"It's not stupid. I worry about you too…"

"Oh, is that right?" Rufus smiled teasingly at her, and saw her pout return.

"Of course!" She smacked his hand lightly and sighed, looking straight at him now, deadly serious. "Rufus… you know how much I love you, right?"

"Yeah…" Rufus laughed a little, but she did not return his laugh.

"Then I need you to make me a promise." She gripped his hand tighter now, biting her lip slightly.

"What kind of promise?" Rufus was curious now.

"I need you to promise me you won't die on me… not until we're old and grey and sick of each others company…" She managed a giggle, but it was half-hearted at best. Rufus now noticed shadows had begun to creep around her eyes, and stress lines had appeared on her face where he was sure they were not before. Perhaps he wasn't paying enough attention to her.

"First off, I'll never get tired of being with you." He replied with a smile. "Now, why would you ask me to make a promise like that? Have I scared you being like this?"

"No…" She shook her head slowly, sighing. "I've been worried for a long time now. People… they're talking about these rebels that have infiltrated Midgcar… saying they're aiming to destroy ALIEN… from the top to the bottom. One of my friends…"

"Oh great, one of those airheads scared you." Rufus growled.

"She made sense, Rufus! What better way to send your message, if you're a terrorist, than by killing the leader of the organisation you're fighting? Not only is it demoralising and frightening, but it'd put the organisation briefly into disarray, a perfect chance to strike!"

"So, that's what you think, huh? Some rebel is going to take me out?"

"I don't know…" Angela bowed her head. "It just scares me. I couldn't bear living without you… I keep having nightmares of a funeral…"

"Stop that…" Rufus noticing she was beginning to shake a little. "Babe, I understand your concern, but really, there's nothing to be afraid of. You think it's easy to get at me? I'm surrounded by security whenever I'm out of this building, and the building itself, as you know, is submerged in security, not only in the form of guards but technology. To kill me would be an incredible task for any person, trust me. These rebels will be caught soon enough… but baby, I can't get out of this now. You believe in what I'm doing, right?"

Angela nodded. "Yes…"

"Then you'll know I have to continue along this path I walk. If I turn back now the entire continent will head back into the darkness we were submerged in before. The sooner this continent is united the better. We know the Ultima sphere was preparing for war – the previous governing body were not going to retaliate because they were afraid of upsetting the Ultima sphere and provoking war. But you know what else they were scared of? Putting their own lives at risk. That's something I'm not scared to do. I know you're worried, baby, but in any revolution there has to be a figurehead… somebody who's willing to put their life on the line for the ideals they believe in. I'm trying to be that man now. It's time to end this war of the spheres and prosper as a united continent… not a separated one."

"I know, but…"

"No buts! Because of the Ultima sphere we can only get resources from the back end and centre of our sphere! All the resources in the outer lands can't be extracted because of this stupid treaty we signed last time the wars were ended! Our defences from continents across the sea are split in two! If we ever get attacked by sea… we'd be an easy target. They're in the same boat, obviously, and it's hurting the continent as a whole. If we don't act soon those barbarians on the other continents will realise and come to attack us. Divided, we will fall. United – we'll drive them out of our lands."

"You're right, of course." Angela whispered, brushing her hair back behind her ears. "Every time I hear you speak… I can't doubt you." She genuinely meant this, too. Rufus had a quality about him she could not deny, the ability through speech and action to make you believe that he was telling the absolute truth, that he was both a prophesier and a saviour. It was how he came to be in power today, and as long as he wasn't killed, she imaged he'd be able to stay where he was for a very long time. She only hoped she'd continue to be there with him, through thick and thin.

"Good." Rufus grinned at her, squeezing her hand. "You're really beautiful, you know that? I don't tell you that nearly enough."

"Don't you try to suck up." She kicked his leg playfully. "I'm still upset about you calling me a nuisance, you know."

"I'll make it up to you." He winked. "Promise."

"Will you make the other promise, too?"

"Alright. I promise I won't die before you're sick of me."

She laughed. "I was only joking about that… but thank you." The stress lines on her face disappeared, as did the shadows around her eyes. Her face was glowing once more, and although Rufus knew he could not really be sure about the promise he'd just made, at least for now it had made her happy. That's all that really mattered.


End file.
